The House of the Setting Sun: The Pilot
by BattleKitten
Summary: Sequel to "No Time to Choose". Dawn and the Slayers find out that not all beasts go bump in the night and Faith has a freak for a cell-mate.
1. Default Chapter

**House of the Setting Sun: The Pilot.**

Okay, this is the sequel to "No Time To Choose". It's called "House of the Setting Sun" and it's in episode format. You know the drill, teaser, acts one, two, three and four. It's written as a story though not a script, cos I write stories not scripts. Think of it as a virtual spin off type thing, or think of it as a load of rubbish, your choice, I'll bear no grudge.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy it. If you don't feel free to let me know how you think it could be improved.

Yes this is the same series as "Slayers" on Buffyworld, but that was only ever a working name. This is the same, but with revisions.

Disclaimer : All characters are owned by Joss Whedon and the rest of them.  
Spoilers : Buffy seasons 1 – 7 / Angel seasons 1 – 5  
Rating : R for violence and sexual situations  
Pairing : Buffy/Faith and Willow/Kennedy mainly,  
other relationships may spring up.

* * *

**TEASER **

**  
**The sounds of Bette Midler floated across the hall, down the stairs and into the kitchen.

Xander looked up at the ceiling in despair.

"She just hit repeat again." He groaned.

Dawn was sat at the table with him, she took a second out from idly flicking through a magazine, to sympathise.

"I know! Who even likes this song anyway. It's so 80's retro. I even offered her my Avril Lavigne CD, but she threw it at me."

"Now come on Dawnie, it's not like she actually aimed for you." Willow stood at the stove making pancakes.

"No but she took the head clean off the cactus plant I brought her. S'not like it ever did anything to her. Just sat there trying to cheer her up."

"Well they say "Say it with flowers", but what does a cactus really say. "Hi I'm inhospitable and spikey and my closest relative is a camel." Xander helped himself to the heap of pancakes Willow had just placed in front of him.

Dawn was about to do the same, but froze with her hand to her mouth.

"Oh, do you think that's why she didn't like it. Do you think it was too painful to have a reminder of, y'know, Spike around." She finished with a whisper.

"Spike was related to a camel, then I'm a monkey's uncle." Xander grinned as he poured a thick layer of syrup over his breakfast.

Dawn just looked pained.

Willow sat down next to her and patted her hand.

"I don't think that's it Dawn. I think your cactus was just an unfortunate bystander."

"I know that's not all she's sad about, but it's been a week since we moved in here and she seems to be getting worse instead of better."

"I know, I'm worried about her too, but she'll be okay, you'll see. Now eat your pancakes." Willow started to tuck into her's.

All three sighed with relief as the music began to fade away, but then groaned loudly when it restarted.

"Again with the repeat. Why can't she wear headphones!" Xander grumbled.

"Xander, give her a break. It's not like she doesn't deserve one." Snapped Willow.

"Will, we've all got pain." Xander sub-consciously rubbed at his face where his eye patch elastic ran. "But we don't all foist it on the rest of the house at seven-thirty in the morning."

"No, some of us foist it on the rest of the house at _one-thirty_ in the morning. That's why you're Mr. Grumpy Pant's, you've got a hangover." Willow grinned at him to soften the reprimand slightly.

He smiled back sheepishly and held up his hands, pretending to hold something. "Okay Will, you're right. This is a break, I will make sure she gets it."

"Yeah, well I love my sister, but I'd rather hear Xander slur his way through – what was it again – Hey ya, hey ya, shake it, shake it, shake it, shake it, hey ya."

Xander grinned and danced in his seat as Outkast's latest tune played in his head. "Hey yaaaa." He crooned.

"It would be better if you could learn the rest of the song, though." Dawn added. Willow nodded.

Upstairs Bette went back to the beginning again. Xander stopped dancing and dropped his head in his hands.

Looking up again immediately, he asked. "Who is it anyway, who's she singing about. I guess the dead undead counts, what with him saving the world an' all, but…"

"I don't think it's him." Willow interrupted.

Xander waved his hand in the air as he continued. "Precisely and that only leaves one contestant who, despite recent good works, hardly fits into the category of…"

* * *

"…Hero. And everything I would like to be. An' I can fly higher than an eagle. Cos you are the wind beneath my wiiiiiiiiings."

Buffy stopped singing and snivelled a little. She searched her pyjama sleeves for a tissue, and not finding one used the sleeve itself. Wailing along to the final chorus, she sat up and looked around her bed for the remote to her stereo. Cursing herself for feeling compelled to chuck it when she finished with it and creating this hunt every few minutes.

She located it, hit the 'back' button and lay back again, chucked the remote away and waited patiently for the first few chords.

She smiled slightly when it started and took a deep breath ready to sing.

BANG! Her bedroom door flew open and smacked into the wall hard enough for the handle to create a dent. Buffy jumped and cursed. Kennedy stormed in, complete with bed head and pillow creased face. She glared angrily at Buffy, who glared back, and then went to the stereo. She pulled the plug from the wall.

"Hey!" Shouted Buffy.

Kennedy ignored her as she ripped the plug from the cable and left the room, taking the plug with her. She pulled the door closed behind her with another bang.

Buffy sat up and stared at her stereo, willing a new plug to appear. It didn't happen. Huffing, she lay back down and quietly began to sing.

"It must have been cold there in my shadow…"

**Act one**

Willow stood outside Buffy's door, plate balanced in one hand, the other poised to knock. She hesitated, not really sure why she'd volunteered for this job. She didn't entirely believe what she'd told Dawn earlier, but with Slayer accuracy surely if Buffy had been aiming for her sister she wouldn't have missed! Deciding to hope for the best, the best being not decapitation by a plate brimming with breakfast-y goodness, she sighed and went to knock.

"I know you're out there Willow, just come in already." Buffy said from the other side of the closed door.

Willow jumped, the contents of her plate wobbling precariously. She gave a self-conscious giggle and let herself in the room.

"How did you know it was me?" She asked, her eyes flickered around the dark room before landing on Buffy.

"I could hear your brain ticking away as you tried to come up with reasons not to come in." Answered Buffy.

Willow raised an eyebrow and made her way to the bed. "Mind if I…" She gestured to the bed with the plate.

"Throw pancakes at me? Sure why not, after everything we've been through I think we can survive a food fight." Buffy made a great effort to drag herself up until she rested with her back against the pillows. She cleared a space on her messy bed and pointed to it. "Sit."

"So how did you really?" Asked Willow again. She set the plate of pancakes on Buffy's knees and handed her a fork.

"The bottom of your slippers make a scratchy noise on the carpet and you were shuffling your feet out there for quite some time." Buffy explained, setting her breakfast and the fork aside.

Willow looked down at her fluffy pink pig slippers. "Way to rat me out guys." She pouted at them.

Shifting on the bed she began studying her friend in the gloom. "You're not eating your pancakes. I made them special. Funny shapes just for you."

Buffy smiled dolefully. "Just not hungry, I guess. They look good though." She added in an overly perky tone.

Willow picked one up and began nibbling at the edge. "They are good. Full of sugar and butter and milk and other things that fill you with energy and make you want to leave your dark and gloomy bedroom and go out and say, I don't know, be a part of the human race again." Willow hid behind her pancake, peering over the top at Buffy so she could see the attack if it came.

Buffy didn't attack, she just sighed despondently. "I'm not up to human race stuff yet Will. I'm still recovering from the battle…" Willow looked at her, doubtfully, but she soldiered on. "…And we agreed it would be cool if I just had a rest, took things easy for a bit." She shrugged. "I'm just getting my head together, I'll be back to all action Buffy soon, I promise."

Willow looked at her kindly. "No one's saying you have to go out slaying. Kennedy and the girl's have got that covered, but you should get out of this room at least. Just come downstairs and be with your friends. It's like you've been hibernating ever since…" Willow trailed off and looked at her hands.

"Not true. I came shopping with you guys in L.A." Buffy replied, choosing to ignore the direction Willow had been heading in.

"Yeah, and that in itself is worrying. All those clothes shops and you brought four outfits and…and you've been living in one of those ever since." Willow gestured to Buffy's stripy pink pyjama's.

"And I leave the room, I've left the room lots since we moved in." Buffy pouted.

"To go to the bathroom, or to raid the fridge in the middle of the night. I saw you duck back in here last night Buff, when I was helping Xander to bed. I would have appreciated a little Slayer strength help to be honest."

"Sorry." She said sincerely. Her brow creased with concern. "Is he okay? That's like three times this week, isn't it."

"No the first night, he managed to put himself to sleep, in the bath. Which gave Ken one hell of a scare when she climbed in, half asleep, to take a shower." The corners of Buffy lips tugged upwards slightly. "The second time he just passed out in front of the T.V., but last night he wanted to party. I was up getting a glass of milk so luckily I was there to stop him from recreating the Bronze in our living room He still woke Dawn and obviously you, though."

"I was already awake. I've been a night person for so long it's hard to adjust."

"Well lounging around in bed all day every day, won't help with that." Stated Willow firmly.

Buffy looked away, at the drawn curtains. "I know. I'm just not ready."

"Maybe talking about it would help?" Willow asked. "I mean you haven't yet. Talked I mean, about any of it. 'Cause I'm here y'know. We all are, if you want to."

"Thanks, maybe later." Buffy snuggled back down under her covers, effectively ended their conversation.

Willow patted her shoulder through the bed clothes and stood to leave. "I'll see you later then. Try and eat some pancakes, you'll feel better."

She opened the door to go and noticed the cactus Dawn had brought, on the shelf. It wasn't difficult to spot, it was the only thing on the shelf. All of the rest of Buffy's stuff they had brought in L.A. was still strewn around the floor in boxes. The top three inches of the plant lay behind it, wedged between it's body and the wall. Willow shook her head at it.

Buffy's voice came muffled from deep in the bed. "Oh yeah and tell your girlfriend, she owes me a plug!"

* * *

The small car hurtled down the road with Kennedy behind the wheel. Xander clung on to the armrest, his knuckles turning white with nervous tension.

"Hey Ken, remember about my lack of depth perception and the fact that I only have one eye, well I still drive better than you."

Kennedy turned and gave him a smile. "Bite me."

"It must be a Slayer thing, Buffy's terrible at it too." Dawn called from the back.

"I am not a bad driver, you are just all wusses." Kennedy explained, looking in the rear view mirror at Dawn, while she negotiated the next couple of bends.

"Dear Gods woman, look at the road!" Xander cried, his feet scrambling for an imaginary break pedal.

"Relax, Xander, there's nothing out here but us. I bet there's not even another car on the whole of this road, ever. We never see any." Kennedy slowed the car marginally to avoid a lump of dead something in the road.

"I wasn't caring about other cars, it was the sign you nearly took out, and what is that?" Xander, Kennedy and Dawn all peered out of the windows at the dead something.

"It doesn't look like you're average road-kill, that's for sure." Said Dawn.

The mass was a hot-pink, with a green stripe over the top, there was a smaller lump sticking out of the side that may have been a head, or a very big boil. It didn't move at all, it just steamed slightly.

"If you'd knocked the sign for the town over, we would have to call this place Bowled Over, not Boudenver." Said Andrew, chuckling.

"Er, Supernerd, try and focus." Dawn dug her elbow into his ribs.

Andrew rubbed where she'd elbowed him and whined. "Don't call me that, you know I don't like it, and what's so fascinating about a dead Maritima demon. We've seen much worse stuff than that."

Three heads swivelled towards Andrew, and three sets of eyes showed surprise.

He shrugged it off. "What, as much as you all might like to forget it, I do have some knowledge in this area. I used to be a …"

"Yeah Andy, we know." Dawn cut him off. "if you were an action figure. "I used to be a super villain." Would be the line you said when someone pulled your cord."

"That would be sooo cool. I could come with all these accessories, like a set of demon pipes and an invisibility gun and stuff." Andrew sat back again, grinning.

Xander shook his head at Andrew in mock horror. Kennedy began to pull away again.

"Hey where are we going? Shouldn't we do something about…that?" Asked Xander.

"Like what? We didn't kill it, we don't have to deal with it. It ain't gonna hurt anybody now it's dead…"

"It wouldn't hurt anyone anyway. They only eat fish." Supplied Andrew from the back.

"…And my job description says Slayer, not highway clean up crew, so unless you wanna step out and do the job, we're leaving it to the crows."

Xander looked at the thing for a few more seconds, taking in the size and general sludginess of the deceased demon, his nose wrinkled as the smell of the thing started to come through his open window. "The birds."

Kennedy nodded at his good sense and sped off again.

"What do you think killed it? Do you think maybe Buffy was out slaying last night?" Asked Dawn, hopeful that her sister was finally getting back to normal.

Kennedy shrugged. "Didn't see her out and she was still sobbing in her room when I got in from patrol."

"Buffy wouldn't have just left it like that, if she had got it, she'd have buried it." Said Xander.

"Yeah if she could stop wringing her hands and wailing long enough to pick up a shovel." Kennedy slowed slightly as they entered the town's main street.

"Hey, she's going through stuff, she'll be back on top soon." Snapped Dawn.

"Yeah well she better make it soon, or else this whole Slayer revolution we've got going is gonna pass her by."

"You wouldn't even be a Slayer if it wasn't for my sister so you should watch what your saying."

Kennedy pulled up in front of the store. "It was Willow who made me a Slayer, not B, and anyway all I'm saying is, she needs to get over it. Okay, so she fell hard for Faith, but Faith shot through, which shows just how much she doesn't care about Buffy. Buffy has to think about that. Yeah, okay so Faith is pretty hot, but she's not worth the state our fearless leader has worked herself up to. Buffy's losing it, and it's annoying the rest of you as much as it is me, so don't pretend otherwise."

Dawn looked ready to argue, but Xander stepped in. "Buffy will deal in her own time and us arguing about it isn't going to speed that up, so lets just get some groceries and wood and get on with things." He got out the car and the others followed.

* * *

The shadows flickered in the candle light as it burned low. The figures around the candle, sat with bowed heads as the one that was obviously their leader chanted low in a thick Cornish accent.

_"That which, she slayed the last  
Let rise again and slay her fast  
From flesh to dust  
From dust to flesh  
Use these words to squash our pests."_

One of the lesser figures looked up at their leader.

"Thick doon rhyme, mawther."

"It will do, sonny." Came his reply.

* * *

"We're not exactly spoilt for choice here, are we." Moaned Kennedy, as she looked over the shelves. They were well stocked, but dull.

"Well it's not exactly K-mart but we won't go hungry." Dawn started shoving tins into her basket.

"How long do you think Xander will be?" Asked Andrew. "Ooh, Oreo's." he grabbed a couple of packets.

"Dunno, however long it takes to buy wood I suppose. I've never done it." Said Kennedy, also grabbing items off of the shelves. Every now and then she'd look to the front of the store where three people were gathered around the counter, whispering up a storm with the shop keeper.

"I still think you should have gone with him Andy, to help him carry it." Chastised Dawn.

"I would have, but when I carry the wood on my shoulder like Xander showed me, it leaves a dent, and it doesn't go away for days. Remember I showed you."

"Oh, oh yeah." Dawn felt her ears grow hot and she busied herself grabbing some fresh fruit off a stand.

Kennedy smirked. "Oh he showed you, did he?" She drawled, but before Dawn could give her a sarcastic answer, her attention was dragged back to the front of the shop.

"No he just…What is it?" Dawn also peered up the front.

"They're talking about us." Kennedy voice was barely audible to her companions.

"Huh what makes you say that?" Asked Dawn, while Andrew tilted his head to one side, as if it would make him hear better.

"Come on!" Said Kennedy, she grabbed the basket off of Dawn and stormed to the cash register, plonking the basket on the side, she started:

"If you have something to say, say it."

The two old women and one old man who were stood at the counter looked at each other in alarm, then they looked at the shop keeper who was also an old man. Then all four looked at the three shoppers.

"Say again now, darlin." The shop keeper drawled, a nervous smile betraying his casual answer.

"I could hear you talking about us."

"Well how could you hear that." One of the women, with a bright shock of ginger curls asked, before being jabbed in the ribs by the other woman, who had nice grey curls which were much more becoming for a woman of her age.

"Doesn't matter how, all that matters is that I did. I heard you saying to him, that you couldn't be having with all these strangers poking around."

"Now why would she say that." Said the man who wasn't the shop keeper. "This here's a tourist town."

Dawn rolled her eyes. "This is a tourist town?"

"Well yeah, of course it is. Y'see they come for the lake and then stay for the hospitality." The old man opened his mouth to laugh, showing the three teenagers a healthy set of gums and not much else.

Kennedy pointed her finger at him. "No she definitely said that and then you said "Don't pay them no mind, they'll be upping stakes and heading back to the city soon enough." And then she said…" She jabbed her finger in the grey haired lady's direction. "…Just as well, we don't need them sort around here." I want to know what you meant by that."

All four looked at her blankly. The shop keeper shrugged too.

"Uh Kennedy maybe we should leave these nice people to it and go wait for Xander by the car." Andrew began tugging at her sleeve.

"I heard them say it." She was adamant.

"Well maybe you're hearing things, Lass." Said the shop keeper.

Kennedy clenched her hands into fists and was about to storm out, but Dawn stopped her.

"Hang on you have to help carry the shopping." Dawn smiled sweetly at the shop keeper. "That is if my associate hasn't just soured our chance of eating in this town."

The ginger haired lady moved aside and to let Dawn get to the basket. "Of course not dear, you go ahead."

The shop keeper started to run up the goods. "Just remember, nobody likes being accused of things." He told her, while shooting a nasty look at Kennedy, in fact they were all giving her bad looks the youngest Summers noticed.

Kennedy stood and stared blankly at the wall behind them like she hadn't realised she was on the receiving end of some frozen attitude. Andrew smiled nervously at everyone.

When the shop keeper had finished. He handed the bag to Dawn and gave her a grandfatherly smile. "There you go. Have a nice day now."

Dawn smiled back, Kennedy took the heavy bag and stormed out of the shop with out looking back. Andrew and Dawn followed her.

All was quiet within the shop for a few seconds, until Ginger haired lady broke the silence.

"Ooh that is a feisty one, how did she hear us anyway."

"She probably didn't." Replied the old man. "She was just paranoid, these city types are always paranoid, it's working with all that money. Makes 'em a little crazy."

Grey-haired lady stepped onto her soap box next. "Well it's not right, whatever their like. You can't have a house with a dozen girls and only two boys living there, it's perverse. And did I tell you what I saw the other night. Well, that cheeky one that was just in here, I saw her strolling around the church yard with a bunch of the young lasses with her, and I think there was some violence and most likely vandalism, going on too. Obviously I didn't like to get too close but what else would they be doing in a grave yard in the middle of the night."

"It's the city, it stops people being decent." Said the old man.

"And all them girls only seem to come out at night. Where are they going you wonder. It's true, as soon as the sun sets they're out roaming the streets. Their parents should do something." Said the ginger haired lady. "Goodness knows what they're up to."

"Probably out street walking, that's what they do in the city." Revealed the old man.

The shop keeper smiled at them all, but kept quiet. It was amazing the gossip you heard in a small shop in a small town. Much better than city gossip, definitely.

* * *

Willow decided she liked gardening. She was out in the fresh air, with the sun on her back and the wind in her hair. In fact gardening made her feel positively poetic.

She also liked it because it made her feel connected to things. The Earth, Mother Nature, the elements. It reminded her of her time in England, the time she'd spent pulling the flower through the earth from Paraguay. Even though this morning's gardening was being done in a non-supernatural way, with a cut-sized trowel and mini spade, it still helped keep her in tune with where her magic came from – her connection to the planet she called home.

She sat back on her heels for a minute, cast the small spade aside and wiped at her sweaty brow. Doing it this way was definitely more strenuous though, she mused. Smiling to herself, she wondered if she could convince Kennedy to take a nap with her after she got back from town. It wasn't normally that hard to talk her girlfriend into that kind of thing. The only drawback might be that Kennedy actually wanted to sleep, to make up for what she'd missed the night before. Willow sighed, now Ken had taken over the patrolling, and what with having a much wider area to patrol, she wasn't getting home until three most nights, and this morning she had been rudely awoken with Buffy's tribute to 'Beaches', which had not left her a happy little Slayer.

Willow looked up at the window to Buffy's bedroom, but the curtains were still shut tight. She caught movement out of the corner of her eyes and turned her head towards it, but there was nothing there. Chuckling at herself for being so jumpy she carried on working at weeding out the flower garden, every now again casting glances at the three new Slayer's that were working on digging a vegetable plot. She could hear them whispering but couldn't make out the words.

* * *

"Yes, well I heard she's averted seven apocalypses." Said a young blonde girl, as she dug her spade easily into the soil and lifted it to loosen the earth.

"Shouldn't that be apocali?" Asked another girl. Her hair was black, so black it looked to almost have a blue sheen in the bright glare of the sun.

The blonde shrugged. "Dunno, but if saving the world sends you doolally, then you can keep it." She continued to dig effortlessly.

"Come on Alison, Doolally is so not a word, and if it was, she's not. I heard her sister Dawn say that she took some hard hits in the big battle and she was just recovering." The girl with the black hair responded, waving a packet of seeds around as she gestured.

"Well I've been here since the day after they moved in and she hasn't left her room once, that's not recovering, that's reclusing, Miranda." Said Alison.

"I heard her boyfriend died in the big battle." Said a third girl, she had been quiet up until then, studying a hoe. "That's got to send you slightly…doolally, was it?" She flipped her long auburn hair over one shoulder and gave the gardening tool another curious look.

"Yeah well, her last boyfriend was a vampire…" Began Alison.

Miranda's mouth opened in shock. "No…really? But she's a Slayer."

"Yep really. So I'm thinking she must have been pretty crazy to begin with. Cici, are you going to use that thing or just admire it all day."

Cici looked up from her examination. "Well I assume this bit goes in the ground." She flicked the metal head with her fingers. "But I'm not sure what happens after that." She said with an apologetic expression.

* * *

Buffy was pacing around her room, again. Everyone thought she'd spent the week lounging around in her bed, but really this had been her main activity. Her room was not large, approximately the same size as her bedroom back home had been.

"Gotta stop thinking like that." She chastised herself. "This is home now, whether I like it or not."

It didn't take long to pace around it. She started off by the door, marched up towards the window, took a sharp right, and marched round the foot of the bed, then another sharp right until she hit the wall, about turn and reverse the order until she reached the door. It took about thirty seconds. She had done it a few thousand times a day since they'd moved in. Trying to spur herself into some sort of action, trying to make up her mind what she wanted to do next and wondering what she had done so wrong to end up like this.

She knew her friends were concerned for her and that she needed them around right now, to anchor her, but she couldn't bear to see them looking at her pitifully. Thinking of her as the poor, broken hearted, wrecked Dumpee, she had become, but she wasn't ready to let go of her anger and pain at losing the person she loved either. Which meant she couldn't go down there and mingle and pretend to care about every day life like they wanted her to.

She snarled in frustration and flopped down on the bed, reaching under her pillow, she pulled out a worn, well creased sheet of paper. Reading it brought tears to her eyes as if by magic. No matter how all cried out she felt, one look at the letter brought on a fresh wave, but she couldn't help it. It was the only thing she had left connecting her to Faith and she hoped with each re-reading to be able to stop caring, to see the words for what they really were, but it hadn't happened yet.

With the letter still in her hand, she got up and started pacing again. She would go after her if she had a clue where to begin. If she had one clue of where to start looking for the rogue Slayer, she'd be out there right now, searching until she found her and was able to beat her into a senseless pulp for doing this too her. For turning her into another notch on the belt, that she so hadn't wanted to be. For finding new ways to hurt her, even though she hadn't wanted to.

Even when she was angry Buffy knew she couldn't lay all the blame at Faith's feet. She had pushed the other woman into committing that night, even though she knew Faith was reluctant. Faith had said she had plans, had said she had places to be, but Buffy had at least expected her to be there in the morning.

She didn't know why she expected that, Faith's departure was true to form. Yet Buffy had seen the love in Faith's eyes, she knew they felt the same way, so why was Faith still running.

Buffy slammed her hands into the sides of her head in frustration at the stupidness of it all.

"Damn you. If you want to throw away the best thing that ever happened to either of us, then far be it for me to get in your way. I've got better things to do with my time than mope over you, Faith."

She flung the door open and stomped out into the hall and down the stairs.

* * *

"Jeez, alright, no need to push, I'm out." Faith stumbled slightly as she fell out of the van. Slayer agility managed to keep her on her feet, despite the fact her hands were cuffed behind her impairing her balance.

A woman dressed in a guards uniform jumped out the back of the white van with the words "Northern California Women's Facility " emblazoned on the side. Another guard, a man this time, came around from the drivers door and grabbed her by the arm and started propelling her towards the doors of the large, imposing court house.

"Hey, don't touch what you can't afford, jerk-off." She growled.

He ignored her and pushed her up the steps to the door. Despite her verbal challenges, Faith went with them as meekly as she could.

* * *

Willow looked up towards the back door to see Buffy standing there gazing around.

"Hey sleepy head." She called.

Buffy offered her a weak smile in return, and continued to look out across the garden as if she hadn't seen it before. Which, Willow surmised, she probably hadn't unless she'd bothered looking out of her window at all.

Deciding to leave her to it for fear of scaring her back upstairs, the witch returned to the garden. She'd finished the weeding, handfuls of Ground Ivy now surrounded her on the lawn. The tiny blue flowers were pretty, but to leave it in the ground would have meant certain strangulation for all the new plants she'd brought. It had taken some hours, but it was a job well done and it did look a lot better. There were already some flowers in the patch, and Willow had brought some more to add to it. Not only would they look pretty, but she hoped at some point she'd be able to grow most of the plants she needed for her spells.

She looked around for the little spade she had set aside earlier, but couldn't see it. She began to crawl up the garden, searching for it in the ankle high grass, when all of a sudden something stung her on the ass.

"Ouch!" She swatted at her butt with her hand, but felt nothing there, but a burning sensation under her shorts. Before she could get to her feet, she was stung again on the ankle. She whirled around wildly, again exclaiming her pain, but there were no insects hovering around that looked like they might want to attack her.

She looked down at her bare ankle as was surprised to find a little tear in her skin. There was a trickle of blood flowing from it and she wiped it away, wondering what could have caused it.

Before she could wonder long, there was another flash of pain across the thigh of her other leg. She tried to jump up and away and was horrified to find she couldn't. Whatever was stinging her, or biting her was holding her in place.

"Oh Goddess." She squealed, when she looked down and saw the leafy green tendril wrapped around her leg.

She gripped the Ground Ivy with both hands and pulled as hard as she could until it snapped, then she scrambled to her feet. Spinning around intent on making a dash for the door, she was startled to see a lovely flowering Foxglove suddenly rear up and gnash it's petals at her, threateningly.

With a squeal she fell backwards, onto the garden and screamed "Buffy!"

Buffy was already halfway there before Willow shouted. She'd watched her friend start acting strangely and when she'd heard the red-head say ouch, she'd assumed she had caught her finger on a thorn or something, but when she began thrashing about, dancing with the flowers, Buffy decided it was time to get over there and help bring her best friend down from whatever mind bending drugs she had taken.

When she saw the Foxglove waving around in front of her like a dancing cobra, Buffy was about to accuse Willow of slipping more of the same drugs in her pancakes and therefore peer-pressuring her into a life of narcotic dependence and cop dodging, but decided that would take to long and settled for kicking the plant and it's pot, high into orbit.

"Buffy." Willow squealed again as she felt another sting or bite, this time to her left shoulder.

Buffy wasn't sure what was wrong, but she grabbed the hand Willow was waving around wildly and yanked her best friend to her feet.

A succession of pops was heard as one by one, little sucker pods left Willow's skin and fell back to the earth.

Buffy pushed Willow out of the way as another snaky arm of Ivy, left the ground and shot though the air towards her. The Slayer moved aside and grabbed it with both hands, immediately it began to wind around her fists, binding her to it.

She grunted in effort as she ripped it apart and flung it away. Spotting a pair of secateurs left by the rose patch, she flipped out of the way of the Ivy, which this time was creeping for her feet, and snatched them up.

Willow had run off, and Buffy could see three girls off to the side watching her, but she remained focused on the weeds. Inching forward, with the secateurs held out in front of her, she advanced on them.

"I think it's time I cut you down to size." She told them and then lunged. Snipping with superhuman speed, she soon had the tendrils in small pieces.

Some of them continued to move feebly and she watched them until something stung her on the ankle. She looked down and saw a milky green pod stuck to her ankle.

"Damn, forgot about you suckers." She pulled her ankle away and lifted it to stamp down hard. The pods her foot squashed, burst open, spraying a greyish fluid over the ground. She carried on stomping until the nameless plant pods were all destroyed.

"Buff, move aside." Said Willow, coming up behind her.

Buffy stepped to one side and watched as the witch pulled a steaming substance onto the weeds and plants.

"That a witchy brew." She asked.

"Nah, just boiling water. It works on most garden pests, so I thought y'know, worth a try."

They both watched as the Ivy ceased it's creepy movement and the sticky quashed pod plant shrivelled up and turned a sickly yellow.

"Guess it worked." Buffy looked up at the three girls. "You okay?" They all nodded silently. "Well, good. It's probably best if you stay away from this bit for a while." They all nodded again. Buffy gave them a bemused look and turned to help a limping Willow back into the kitchen.

* * *

Xander whistled as he walked down yet another alley. This town had four main streets and only half a dozen shops, but in alley ways it out-shone Sunnydale by miles. The man behind the counter at the grocery store had told him the lumber yard was behind the tavern and to his right, but despite following those instructions to the letter, so far he hadn't found it. He was getting the feeling he was wandering around in circles. He was also getting the feeling that he was being followed, hence the whistling. A casual demeanour was everything when it came to switching from surprise-ee to surpriser, which is what he intended to do as soon as whatever monster was following him, showed itself.

He came to another split in the alley way. Down one he could see the main street again. That was where the car was parked, that was where he had entered this maze. So, opting for the other alley he resumed whistling.

This one was narrower than the first and despite the bright sun overhead, the path remained in shadows. He could hear whispering behind him, or was it above him he wasn't sure, but whispering meant more than one monster. Unless it was a monster with multiple identity issues.

'Okay,' he thought, 'two monsters are harder than one, but I'm a pro at this, I can handle it.'

On that thought, he spun around to face his shadowers and was startled when four or five figures jumped from the low roof of the adjoining building and landed in front of him. Before he could defend himself, he was being pelted with hard missiles.

"Hey!" He shouted as one struck him on the right ear.

"Shut up wolf." One of his four and a half foot attackers told him.

"Wha…Wolf?" Xander questioned. Another…stone, was it?...smacked him in the chest and he fell back a few paces.

"We know what you are, and we don't want your sort here." Another cried.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Xander insisted, he was getting worried now. His adversaries looked like children, he had a hunch they were children, the children of Super bowl champions if they're throwing arms were anything to go by.

"Course you don't wolf." Another boy hurled a stone the size of a…rock and caught him on the forehead.

Xander grunted in pain and dropped to his knees. His hands flying to his head encountered wet blood from a 'rock' sized gash. "Wha…?"

"We knows its you." Another assailant told him. "Georgie shot a wolf inna eye on Friday, and we never found no body, and now here you are." The boy who said this looked no older than ten to Xander, but he still swore to himself he'd beat him black and blue when the chunk of wood he threw caught the one eyed man squarely across the side of the head and almost knocked him out.

He curled his body up in a ball, too dazed to do anything else, and just waited for the shower of projectiles to stop.

* * *

**Act Two**

"Hey what do you think you're doing."

Xander shakily removed his hands from clutching the back of his head, when he heard the shout. His tormentors laughed and began to run away, one of them kicking him in the stomach as he left. He let out a quiet "oof" and lay there trying to catch his breath.

He saw Kennedy jump over him and give chase and Dawn knelt at his side.

"Are you okay?" She asked, touching his shoulder.

"No." He groaned. "But I will be." He let Dawn help him to his feet.

Kennedy jogged back to them. "Lost them in the alleys." She shrugged. Placing one of Xander's arm's around her shoulders, she began making her way back to the car. "Do you know what they wanted? They just looked like kids."

"They wanted a good kick up the ass, is what they wanted." Xander responded.

* * *

"Willow, you're bleeding right though your shorts, now just pull them down so I can patch you up."

"No Buffy, I can do it myself." Said Willow, nervously inching away.

"Stop being such a baby. We always patch each other up after fights." Buffy moved around the kitchen after Willow.

"We don't normally patch up each other's…behinds." Willow finished delicately.

Buffy shrugged. "So, what's the big?"

"There is no big…but why don't you just start with my back. I'd appreciate that a lot more."

Buffy sighed in exasperation, but relented. Willow lifted off her top and held it against her chest, while Buffy looked at the six round, quarter-sized marks, adorning Willow's shoulders.

"They look okay. The sucker's didn't draw blood or anything. In fact they just look like little hickies." She finished with a half giggle.

"Great, so my girlfriend will think I'm cheating on her with my herb garden, I wonder if they cover that in couples therapy." Asked Willow sarcastically, then flinched dramatically as Buffy whipped her shorts down, her underwear went along for the ride. "Buffy, what are you doing?" She squealed.

"First aid." The blonde responded. She quickly swabbed at the nasty cut on Willow's left buttock and then just as quickly examined it. "It looks like teeth marks. The skins been lacerated in two lines, they're quite deep, but I doubt you'll need stitches, hold still."

Willow tried not squirm as Buffy rubbed a little antiseptic cream onto her butt and then covered it all with a big band aid, but she could honestly say she had never felt so uncomfortable in her entire life. Well, she conceded, she probably had, but she couldn't think of it right now.

"There," she said, "that wasn't so bad was it." Buffy turned away, while Willow pulled her shorts and panties back up, and pulled her t-shirt over her head.

"Puft." Willow stalked to the cupboard to put the first aid kit away. "Easy for you to say. You weren't just molested in the kitchen by your best friend."

"Molested, hardly. I don't see what you're bothered about, it's not like it's Xander doing it. Now that I could see as embarrassing, but it's only me." Buffy disappeared for a second into the living room. When she came back, she was carrying a fluffy cushion. She put it on one of the wooden chairs at the kitchen table and sat down on the chair next to it. "For your sore butt." She explained.

Willow remained standing, an awkward look on her face. "But it's not really all that different, is it?"

Buffy looked up, confused. "Huh? What?"

"You and Xander, me and Xander, me and you." Willow said cryptically,

"What, you mean like best friends? What's that got to do with your…Willow were you worried I was checking out your ass?" Asked Buffy, trying to hide a smirk.

"No, of course not. The thought never entered my mind, well not really, not for more than a second anyway and even then I didn't really think it, it sort of thought me, but you gotta admit it's a good thought, I don't mean good as in good, good, but y'know a worthy one, cause if it was Xander doing the first aid, you know he'd be checking out our butts…"

Buffy held her hands up in surrender. "Will, you're giving me a headache, stop already."

"Sorry." Willow cringed. "Are you mad at me?"

Buffy pouted. "Well I'm a bit disappointed, that me looking at your ass is such a big turn off, but I'll get over it."

Willow sank down onto the cushion Buffy had got for her. "No, no, no Buffy, it's not a turn off, of course it's not, it's just that y'know it's wrong and weird and a…a little disturbing, but if y'know if you want…"

"Okay, Will, let's stop there, before you say something that really will become disturbing. I was only messing with you." Buffy laughed. "But you get all cute when your flustered and I couldn't resist."

Willow's blush gradually receded and she said. "You're mean."

Buffy nodded her agreement.

"But you're out of your room, so I'll let your meanness pass for now. So what do you think caused the flora to get all violent."

Buffy shrugged. "Dunno, I was going to ask you. I mean, I don't think it's normal. I know you can get Venus fly traps and that, but I've never seen a whole flower patch rise up and get nasty."

"Makes you rethink ticking the box marked 'shrubs', doesn't it." Agreed Willow.

Buffy giggled.

Willow smiled at her. "Well you certainly seem happier, what happened?"

Buffy looked down at her hands, her smile fading. Willow kicked herself for making the dark cloud come back.

"Sorry Buff, we don't have to talk about that, we can carry on talking about the attack of Eden."

"No it's okay. It's simple in fact, I'm just not giving her what she wants."

"What Faith wants?" Willow asked, mentally walking on egg shells.

"Yeah. She always wanted to hurt me for having the stuff she didn't, in fact she always wanted to hurt me period. As much as I sit up there and tell myself her going is just a mistake, just something she had to do, I know the truth."

"And what is it?"

"She told me that night that she had wanted me right from the start, that she liked me and it hurt her that I didn't give her a second thought, and she's right I didn't, not really. I was too caught up in senior year and Angel and you guys. It wasn't that I didn't feel the same way back that messed her up, it was the fact that I didn't even notice how she felt about me. I couldn't even take time out of my own life to see what was right in front of me, a friend who needed my help."

"I don't see how that's your fault, Buffy. You did all you could to help her, if that wasn't enough, then maybe at the time nothing was." Said Willow, comfortingly.

"No that's not true. She was drowning. In life, in love, in Slayerhood. She couldn't cope and she reached out to me. As the one person who should have been able to understand how she felt, the one person who could make it better. Faith has issues going back way further than since we've known her, I don't even pretend to know what most of them are about either, but I know a big one is trust. I don't know how many times she's been let down by people she's loved, but she told me once she knew she could rely on no one but herself. How sad is it, that a sixteen year old girl feels like that. And then she loved me and I let her down too, because I couldn't see or didn't want to see that I was the only one who could pull her out of the black hole of her life. I wasn't prepared to invest the time and energy it would take to truly be friends with her, to truly get to know her, and she knew that."

"So why has she gone now. If you're everything she's ever wanted why run when she gets you."

"Because I want her now. Oh Gods Will, I want her so much it's killing me. I never even thought I really would. I mean, I knew she made my tummy all fizzy when I thought about her, but I didn't expect it to turn into this all consuming monster. I don't go a second without wishing she was here, without wishing I could wake up earlier that morning and handcuff her to the bed or something, without wondering where she is and what she's doing. If she even felt a half of this all those years ago then maybe it explains some of why she went crazy, 'cause I can feel myself going the same way. That's why she went. She's tried so hard over the years to punish me for letting her down and she's never really managed it. It's only ever made me more angry with her and has driven us further apart, but this time it's perfect. She's got what she wanted…Me, and I haven't got what I want…her." Buffy wiped at the tears that were falling once again. Willow put her arm around her best friend and let her sob.

* * *

Faith paced back and forth in the little holding cell. She hated it here. At least in her own cell she had her newspaper clippings of Sunnydale, and a Polaroid picture of Buffy, Xander and Willow that Angel had sent her, apparently from Cordelia's apartment. Cordelia was still in coma land so wouldn't be needing it.

The cell door opened and Faith spun to face it. "Gunn." She greeted, smiling grimly.

"Faith, how you holding up?" He asked.

She shrugged. "So when do I meet my fancy new lawyer, heh, I can't believe I'm gonna be represented by Wolfram and Hart, makes a nice change from them wanting me dead."

"I'm you're new lawyer, didn't Angel tell you." Gunn said.

Faith's shoulders slumped, obviously disappointed. "No, I thought I was going to get a real one, but I guess as this whole thing is phoney anyway, it makes sense."

"Hey, I am a real lawyer. The best at W H, for that matter, so you better show some respect." Gunn chuckled when she looked confused. "Let's get you out of here first and then I'll explain, it's a long story. And stop sayin this is a phoney case. It's not, in fact you've got a very good case for getting a reduced sentence, or even immediate parole."

"But I did it, everything I was sentenced for. So how can you get me out without telling a bunch of lies."

"Extenuating circumstances and a whole lot of evidence against the late mayor of Sunnydale, that was never brought to the original trial. All you gotta do girl, is stay positive and say what I tell ya." He smirked. "And if all else fails, Wolfram and Hart have been getting the bad guys off for centuries, one more won't kill us."

She smiled and slugged him playfully on the arm. "Okay I trust you, what happens today."

"Probably not a lot. We're just going in there to state your new case. I'll do some talking, you'll answer some questions, the judge will want some character references and then we wait and see what the judge says. He'll hopefully give us a date for a retrial. Thing is you're in for murder two, so they can't just rap you on your knuckles and send you home. We need to prove it was never murder in the first place."

"Who's gonna speak up for my character?"

"Well Angel for one."

"Angel is here…Does Buffy…?"

"Buffy still don't know where you are, now can you stay focused. If we play this right you can get back to your shortie and won't have to bug your lawyer with questions about her."

"But is she okay?"

"No idea, they moved up to Ohio about a week ago." Gunn offered her a bundle of clothes from under his arm. "Fred went and picked these out for you. Last time you went into court in you're work uniform…," Faith looked down at herself, it was true, leather pants and tight black workout vest – perfect Slaying gear. "… you're not doing it again this time. You gotta make the right impression."

Faith took the clothes gingerly. Fred was a nice girl, but they hardly had the same taste in clothes.

Gunn turned to go. "Come out when you're done and we'll get down there."

Faith quickly stripped and pulled on the new clothes. They weren't too bad. A long black skirt and a white pinstripe shirt, with sleeves ending at her elbow. Definitely more conservative than what she normally wore, but if it did the job… She let herself out of the cell and went to join her new lawyer.

* * *

Andrew had taken shot-gun so Xander could sit in the back with Dawn, who was holding a cloth to the gash on his forehead.

"How are you feeling now?" Asked the young blonde man.

"Same as I was when you asked thirty seconds ago." Said Xander groggily.

"I'm sorry, but I'm worried, you look real bad. I still say we should take you to the E.R." Said Andrew, peering back over his seat.

Xander did look bad, besides the cut on his head, the right side of his face was a dark purple colour already and he had lots of other scrapes and bruises where ever skin was visible. He was holding his left arm firmly against his chest to save jarring it.

"The nearest hospital is Cleveland and that's nearly an hour away. By the time we got there I'd be fine."

"I can get you there in half that time." Offered Kennedy who was in the driver's seat.

"No." Yelped both Xander and Dawn.

"He'll be okay, once we get him home, the bleedings almost stopped already, and his arm isn't broken, just twisted I think." Continued Dawn.

"Oooh look at that creepy old castle." Said Andrew.

They all looked to where he pointed out the window. There was a steep hill off in the distance with a derelict building at the top. Andrew was right, even on this sunny day it did look a bit creepy.

"It's not really a castle. It's just a big house. Castles have turrets and stuff." Said Dawn.

"It's got turrets." Countered Andrew, defending his castle.

"Nah, I think they're just chimneys." Xander agreed with Dawn.

"It looks like my step-father's house." Said Kennedy, "But a bit smaller." She added

Everyone looked at Kennedy. "Huh." Said Dawn.

"What do you think was their problem, I mean I know kids can be a handful but when I got there, they were really laying into you. Did you take away their ball or something?" Asked Kennedy to change the subject. The house disappeared around the next bend.

"No I was just walking."

"You must of done something, that was a real lynch mob, they had going." Kennedy maintained.

"Honestly, one minute I was walking, trying to find the wood yard and the next minute I'm being jumped by four little delinquents who wanted to cause me some serious hurt. They kept calling me wolf." He added. "Which would be quite a cool nickname if I wasn't getting smacked upside the head with rocks at the time."

"Wolf, why would they call you wolf. Were you howling in pain." Dawn chuckled, but stopped when Xander glared at her.

"I don't know and right now I don't care. I just wanna get home. I need a drink."

"Well we're nearly there." Kennedy told them as she swung the car into their lane.

Suddenly she slammed on the breaks causing everyone to lurch forward.

"What is it?" Asked Dawn.

"It's a wilderness." Said Andrew.

"Huh?" Dawn looked through the gap in the seats to see out the windshield. "Oh."

"Is this the right lane?" Asked Xander also looking.

"I think so, it's the one we came out of, I'm sure." Said Kennedy puzzled.

The lane was blocked by a thick tangle of trees, bushes and wild flowers.

"Yeah, this our lane, there's our mail box." Said Andrew pointing to a red rectangular box on top of a stick, that reached about four foot high. It could barely be seen poking out of the vegetation.

"How long were we in town?" Asked Xander.

"Not long enough for the house to do a sleeping beauty on us, I'm thinking." Replied Dawn.

"So what do we do?" Asked Andrew.

Kennedy jumped out of the car and went around to the trunk. Pulling out the swords that were stashed there she handed one to each of them as they followed her out.

"Play explorer." She told Andrew

"Cool." He said.

* * *

Buffy had calmed herself down and Willow was making them both some tea.

"So where is everyone, anyway. I came down to hang with my friends, as per instructed, and you're the only one left." Buffy asked, while she sat fiddling with a folded up piece of paper.

Willow wondered what was on it. The paper had materialised out of Buffy's sleeve as soon as they'd begun talking. At first she presumed it was a tissue, but she inspected it now over Buffy's oblivious shoulder and it was definitely a piece of folded A4 paper. Deciding to leave it 'til later, she answered Buffy.

"Uh, well Xander and Dawn had to get out of the house before Bette Midler drove them crazy, so Andrew suggested they all went to the store for groceries, and Kennedy offered to drive cos, well you know how she loves scaring the crap out of everyone. Xander's gonna pick up some wood so he can make a start on renovating the barns. I told him no beer until he's at least brought the wood. I put s spell on the fridge so every time he goes to grab a beer, he gets a glass of milk instead." Willow started giggling at her own mischief."

"Great to see you're using your powers for good now, Will." Said Buffy sarcastically, but she was smiling too.

"I am. Drunk Xander is no good for anyone, especially himself, and milk is good for teeth and bones." Willow pouted.

"No I definitely agree, a good plan if somewhat dastardly." Agreed Buffy. "So that's four of our happy household accounted for, well six including us, but I'm pretty sure we arrived at the back of beyond with more refugees than that."

"Yep. Giles took Rona to Africa, to work with a big spiritual guy, and now he's in England sorting out Watchers stuff, apparently he'll be bringing home some more Slayers any day now."

"Watchers stuff, that's pretty vague."

"That's what I thought, but that's all he said. Uh, Robin's back in Beverly Hills, recuperating. He told Giles he'd speak to his Watcher, well his mom's Watcher about rejoining the council. He's pretty old now though I think, so I doubt he'll be able to do much watching." Willow thought about that a moment. "Actually maybe that's all he would be able to do, watch that is. Anyway I heard Giles say he wanted to round up as many of the old council as he could, y'know, so they had a starting point for the new council."

"Great a new council." Groaned Buffy.

Willow shrugged. "With Giles at the head it might not be so bad. Um, most of the new Slayers scattered once we reached L.A. as you know. Spending four weeks in the big city really broadened a lot of their horizons, but they know where we are, more or less and the majority of them promised to get in touch when they settled somewhere. A lot of them didn't want to go home, too many questions I think. Vi did though, she's gone to see her folks in – wherever she was from. She told them she had gotten into this really cool school in Ohio and they jumped at the chance of their daughter getting a first rate, private education, so we should be seeing her again soon."

"Oh really, what school?" Asked Buffy, wondering for the first time where she was going to enrol Dawn.

Willow giggled. "Here silly. I designed this really cool letter on the lap-top and printed out a few dozen of them, and Giles signed them all. That way if anyone discovers we're not a real school, we both go down for fraud, stops people from getting loose lips." She nodded sagely.

Buffy regarded her friend silently for a minute, "You telling me we have to keep this in the family, Don Rosenberg." She eventually asked, straight-faced.

Willow poked her tongue out. "And that's makes up all of us for now. Letters like the one that went to Vi's family will go to all the new Slayer's parents. We have no way of knowing how many Slayers were activated when the spell was cast, but I've got a feeling we're going to be seeing a lot more than those three out there."

Buffy looked out of the window to the back of the house. "Those three little girls are Slayers. I thought they were like gardeners or helper-outers or something." Said Buffy, taking an interest in them for the first time.

"Buffy what have you been doing in that room, they've been here all week. Alison has anyway, Cici and Miranda arrived the day after."

Buffy laughed. "Cici?"

Willow mocked her laugh. "Buffy?"

Buffy scowled and looked back out of the window. "Are you sure they're Slayers, they look a little young…and skinny."

"They're fifteen and Slayers have high metabolisms, you should know that. Giles thinks only potentials of fifteen or sixteen will be called, because that's the age most Slayers have been in the past, obviously nothings certain but I hope he's right. Can you imagine having a load of three year old Slayers to look after, they'd tear the house down…or…or breast-feeding a baby Slayer…" Willow trailed off with a grimace at the thought.

"Ouch." Agreed Buffy also shuddering, then a thought occurred to her. "Willow, why would you be breast-fee…"

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh"

Buffy and Willow looked at each other and then jumped up and raced for the door. Getting outside they looked for the source of the scream.

Off to one side of the garden, along side a large barn had been a patch of beautiful, and more importantly, peaceful rose bushes. Now they were anything but peaceful as they trapped a new Slayer, Cici, within their stalks and gripped her with their thorns.

The other two girls were thrashing at the bush with their gardening tools, but were to scared of hitting their sister Slayer to be very effective. Buffy rushed over with Willow close behind.

"Stand still." Yelled Buffy.

The girl caught in the thorns thrashed for another second and then realised who had called her. She stopped dead and tried not to cry from the pain. Willow could see dozens of tiny lacerations across her body where the thorns had scraped her, or pricked her.

Buffy took a second to gauge the best way in and then dropped to the floor. Crawling forward on her belly she reached the base of the stalk where it sunk into the ground and yanked it hard. After a few pulls the roots came up and Buffy gently hauled the young Slayer towards her.

"Don't try to move 'til we get these off you." She said calmly and started snapping off the stems one by one. They resisted her strong hands, the stems trying to entwine around the girl's arms and legs and torso, even becoming entangled in her long hair, the thorns attempting to dig in deeper and cause more damage. Eventually though, the bush lay in pieces behind Buffy. No one needed telling not to go anywhere near it.

Buffy gave the new girl a once over. "You'll live, it looks worse than it probably is. Willow will soon have you patched up. You're hair's the biggest casualty, I think" There were leaves and stalks sticking out of it all over. Cici's hand flew to her head and her mouth made a silent 'oh'.

"I thought you were playing doctor today." Said Willow and then blushed as she put her more up to date version of Doctors and Nurses, eventually learned from Xander, with exactly what of hers Buffy had patched up earlier.

"I'm a bit tired. With all the gardening." Said Buffy, leading the way back in. "I think I'll go and have a lay down." She picked up the letter from the table on her way through to the back of the cool, still kitchen and started up the stairs.

"But Buffy, what about the psychotic plant life." Willow called after her, but she was gone. She turned to the new Slayers about to vent her frustration at her friend, but seeing the state Cici was in, that took priority.

* * *

Buffy looked out of her bedroom window. She knew Willow wanted her to help figure this thing out, but she just didn't have the energy. There were three Slayer's down there, let them figure it out.

She caught a movement off to the side of the garden, where the grass was longer and unruly. Not that any of it was ruly at the moment. She watched as the long grass was parted like the sea when a ship cut through the waves. Except this was the back yard and she couldn't see any ships. The waves spread out, until there was lots of little ones and then joined back up to one big one again.

'Snakes, a nest of them.' She thought, and shivered at the idea. At the crest of the big wave something sprouted out of the grass, it looked like a feather. So was it a bird, a very small, thin, fast bird that moved like a serpent. Okay the country-side was even weirder than she'd been led to believe.

While she was straining to see what kind of creature this was, or failing that what type of plant had dragged up it's roots to go on a killing spree, a faint voice came to her ears.

"Qui afore maad ses us lads, grab up tey banes."

"Aha, demon languages." Said Buffy to herself. Maybe that would shake the cobwebs away, a good demon kill. She shoved her window up and crawled out on the veranda roof as quick as she could, then running along it to the side of the house she jumped and landed in the long grass, where the snake demon had been a moment before.

"Gotcha." She announced as she looked around at the empty grass. She looked around confused. It had taken her barely thirty seconds to get out here, and considering she hadn't slayed for a month she thought that was pretty good going. So where was her demon.

"Come on, I gotcha fair and square, now come out and stop hiding." There was no answer but the wind in the trees above her. Feeling foolish she started back towards the house. Willow met her at the door.

"What was it Buffy, I heard you shouting."

"I thought I saw something, but I didn't, never mind." Buffy walked past her friend and back up to her room, closed the window and the curtains firmly and laid on the bed.

She picked up the letter again. "You're making me crazy, is this how you felt, chasing shadows all the time?" She wondered softly.

* * *

It was hot in the vegetation tunnel they had created, and the light was a creepy dark green. Insects buzzed around them relentlessly, no matter how many they swatted.

"I don't like this." Whined Andrew.

"Shut up and keep cutting, cry-baby." Kennedy told him. She was using her sword like a an axe, cutting anything in her path.

"But it's getting worse and we're actually underneath the grass now and…and I keep getting bitten." He slapped his cheek hard and looked at the bug now squashed into his palm.

"Yeah and you whining about it isn't going to help so just get a move on." Said Kennedy, not bothering to look back.

"Who died and made you the boss?" Asked Dawn, jerking her own sword back as it got tangled yet again in the green vines surrounding them.

"I'm the Slayer here."

"Yeah and I've lived with a Slayer my whole life, sort of, so that doesn't work on me."

Kennedy stopped cutting and turned to face Dawn. "Okay, how about the fact that I'm older than you."

"Only by a year, and Andrew's older than you." Dawn's hands went to her hips, heedless of the sword still in her fist. She nearly took Andrew's leg off with it. "So maybe he should be the leader."

Andrew looked bashfully around. "No it's okay Dawn, I don't want to be the leader, I just want to get out of here before it gets dark and I'm getting hungry."

"What is it with you two anyway. You've been joined at the hip all summer, and you're always protecting him." Said Kennedy, ignoring Andrew.

"We are not joined at the hip and if I stand up for him it's only because I think you're a complete bitch to him all the time."

"So, let him be a man and fight his own battles."

Andrew hopped from one foot to another, his colour rising as the girls argued about him."

Xander stopped cutting with his own sword and glared at Kennedy and Dawn. "Okay girls, can we stop this already. I'm bleeding again and I've already got a headache and I don't need you two, no make that all three of you, making it worse. So lets shut up and keep on trimming this lane. Besides, Andy has a point. It is getting worse." He checked his watch. "How long would you say the track to the house is?"

"About fifty feet, I guess." Said Kennedy.

"And it goes in a straight line, so you'd think it wouldn't take that long for four of us to hack our way through, would you?"

"Well three and a half, really." Kennedy smirked at Andrew, earning a glare from Dawn. She caught the glare on Xander's face as well and added. "No, I guess not."

"Well we've been at it for over an hour and we still can't see the house, in fact it's getting thicker every step we take." Finished Xander, while taking another swing at the bushes.

"Do you think we've veered off the lane, into the scrub? Cause that would suck." Kennedy admitted.

"Either that or the foliage doesn't want us getting home for some reason." Said Xander.

"Why would it want that?" Asked Andrew in a small voice.

"Why would it want anything? It's plants, and grass, and weeds and stuff. All it wants is a little sun and a little rain, and a horny bee to come along and impregnate it." Scoffed Kennedy.

"That's pollinate, Dumbass." Shot Dawn.

"I know, Butt-munch." Kennedy shot back with equal venom.

Dawn just thrust her hand, palm first into Kennedy's face and Kennedy's eyebrows raised in surprise.

"Oh you're mature." She drawled.

Dawn ignored her and turned to Xander. "It's probably Willow. I mean she's testing this increase in her power by doing all these white spells. Maybe one got away from her."

Xander shrugged. "Wouldn't be the first time." He admitted.

Kennedy looked at them annoyed, her hands on her hips. "Why does it always have to be Willow messing up every time something goes wrong. For people who supposedly love her, you sure ride her pretty hard."

"Well Xander's right, her spells do occasionally go kerflooie. Look at the Slayer spell she did." Said Dawn.

This time everyone looked at her in confusion.

"That didn't go wrong." Said Kennedy scornfully.

"Well it couldn't have gone right if it made you a Slayer, could it." The younger girl replied gleefully.

"Right that's it." Kennedy lunged towards Dawn who squealed and turned to run. The pair of them made a huge racket. Dawn's shrieks and Kennedy's shouted threats allowing the boys to more or less track their progress through the undergrowth. Which Andrew noticed with rising alarm was rapidly becoming overgrowth too.

"You know, I honestly don't know whether those to are worse when they're fighting or when they're getting along." Said Xander, breaking Andrew out of his creepy thoughts.

"It's good that Dawn has a friend closer her own age. At least 'til school starts anyway." Replied Andrew.

Xander began following the path made by the two teenagers thrashing. "Is that what you are?" He asked, keeping a straight face.

"Yeah, what else would we be." Andrew told him following.

Xander really hoped he was telling the truth. Having the big brother talk with Andrew would just be too weird.

"Do you think they're going the right way?" The blonde boy asked.

"No idea." Xander told him, continuing to follow the path of broken stems and crushed weeds.

* * *

Faith was led into a room with large windows set into the walls to the left and right of her. To the back of the room was a long sturdy table, made of oak or some other oldy-worldy tree, Faith suspected, although she would be the first to admit that a Southie kid like her didn't have much of an education in the way of trees and stuff. Behind the high, long table a set of double doors led through to wherever.

She looked around curiously at the rest of the room. It wasn't at all the grand court room she was expecting, in fact it was pretty disappointing. It wasn't much bigger than the basement back at Revello drive, with the big table dominating the room, even though no one sat at it yet.

She was led to a table off to her right, equally as long, but not nearly so grand as the first. The guard pointed out her seat and then he stood back a few paces and leant against the wall. A strange man was sat to her left and he nodded at her courteously before turning back to some folders in front of him. She gave him a half smile and a nod back before turning her attention to her right where Gunn sat.

He gave her a grin. "You okay?"

"Uh-huh." She assured him, but she could feel little nervous butterflies taking off in her stomach that she refused to acknowledge.

Gunn nodded towards the main entrance and Faith turned to watch the people entering. First came a woman in her early thirties, she was dressed in a cream coloured power suit, complete with high shoulder pads. It was all very eighties but she looked like she meant business and Faith's intuition told her the confident manner she carried herself to the far table with, was not just for show. She wondered who she was and how she could affect her case. If she was the opposing council Gunn might have his work cut out.

The woman made her way to the long table parallel to the one Faith was seated at. Once seated, she opened a large briefcase and disappeared under the lid. Faith's consideration of this woman was quickly forgotten when the guy following her, sent her spidery senses into a spin-cycle and she smiled broadly in response.

Looking up at the newcomer, she gave a low whistle and nodded appreciatively at the dark blue hand stitched suit and the Italian made leather shoes.

"Our boy cleans up quite nice, don't he." Gunn whispered to her.

"For someone who spent a hundred years living in the sewers and eating rats, yeah." She agreed. "Is Fred dressing him too?"

Gunn chuckled and went back to his notes. Angel walked to the table without looking at her, although he had a small smile playing on his lips as his enhanced hearing picked up his friends whispers, and the whistle of course. Sitting down opposite Faith he gave her a bigger smile and a little wave. She waved back not so subtly. He mouthed the words. "Are you okay?" And she nodded back with a smile of her own.

They sat in almost silence for a moment longer and then were asked to stand by an official in the corner which Faith hadn't even noticed.

A man, who couldn't look less like a judge if he'd actually tried, came through the back doors and took a seat at the big, high bench at the front of the room. Everyone else sat too.

Faith watched this new guy while he spoke a few words and a few words were spoken back by Gunn and the man on her other side. She didn't follow most of it, just caught her name a few times. The man up at the bench was old, like Grandpa old, and he was wearing Golfing attire, complete except for the hat. Faith looked at him incredulously. This was the guy that got to make or break her future, sheesh.

The judge guy was speaking again when there was a commotion at the main door. Everyone's heads turned to watch as a middle aged man with greying hair and glasses slammed through the doors in a hurry and scurried across the floor to the seat next to Angel.

Realising everyone, including the judge, was watching him he smiled around nervously at everyone. "Er, hello…sorry I'm late. You're damned U.S. passport people kept me for hours. Can you believe they thought I was shifty-looking when they were the ones carrying weapons." Suddenly remembering where he was he shot another embarrassed smile at the judge and sat down. "Do carry on."

The judge gave him a withering glance before continuing to speak, but Faith didn't notice, she was too busy trying not to burst out laughing.

"Go, Giles." She smiled at the Watcher and he returned it fondly.

Gunn leant over and whispered in her ear. "You're second character witness."

Faith had no idea why Buffy's Watcher would want to stand up for her in a court of law and say nice things about her, not if he wasn't forced to, but she was glad he was. Glad that even after all the evil stuff she'd done to him, he'd still bothered to look deeper and see the good in her. Even if all this came to nothing, it was nice to know people on the outside actually cared whether she lived or died this time around.

* * *

**Act three**

Faith was confused as she watched the argument go back and forth between Gunn and the District Attourney, who had been sat to her left. She knew most of what Gunn was saying wasn't exactly true, but the way he was putting it was almost enough to convince her that was how it had happened. She tried to follow as best she could knowing she'd have to answer questions about this at some point, and didn't want to screw it up by not paying attention.

Gunn was addressing the judge again. "Your Honour, my client was only sixteen when she arrived in Sunnydale. Now she may have been naïve to take that job at City Hall, but to my knowledge, naivety isn't a crime."

"No but murder is." The D.A. responded.

"I have statements from the people who were around my client at the time of Allen Finch's death, and they have convinced me that it was an accident, and I believe they will convince the jury of the same thing. I also have proof that the late Mayor Wilkins knew of Mr. Finch's death, and that my client was tragically responsible, and he chose to keep this information to himself for several months until his own death. I believe I can also prove that the second murder for which my client was convicted of, was in fact orchastrated by the late Mayor."

"Well there will be no jury to convince if you do not convince me first." The judge locked eyes with Gunn, who stared casually back. "So you had better start."

Three other people in the room also stared at Gunn, waiting to see if he'd be able to pull the rabbit out of the hat, or if all his fancy words would just come to nothing.

* * *

There was a soft knock at the door. "Can I come in Buffy?"

Buffy wiped away a lingering tear. "Yeah." She sat up on the bed and ran her fingers through her hair.

Willow entered. "Feeling better?" She sat on the edge of the bed.

Buffy shrugged. "What can I do you for?"

Willow looked worried. "Well for one, I've got three Slayers terrified to go out of the house in case the grass gnaws through the soles of their sneakers."

"And they're Slayers? Jeez what will they be like when they have to take on a vampire." Buffy scoffed.

"They're just scared Buff, this whole thing is still really freaky to them, let alone having Mother Nature out for blood. You used to get scared sometimes, remember?"

Buffy shrugged again. "I guess. What's number two?"

"Kennedy and the others aren't back yet, they've been gone over three hours."

"Well maybe they're looking around the shops." Suggested Buffy.

Willow smiled. "You really haven't been getting out much have you? There's only eight shops in town, and that's including a barbers, and the lumber yard, and the feed shop."

"Is that like a Denny's?"

"No, it's like a big shop that sells food for cows and horses and stuff. We're gonna get our chickens from there." Willow felt a little excited again at the thought of being able to keep chickens.

Buffy smiled too. "We're getting chickens?"

"Uh huh. For the eggs. Me and Xander wanted to get a cow too, for the milk, but Giles said no way. I think he's phobic." Willow grinned at her friend.

"Well we probably shouldn't get one until we've sorted out the flora problem. Cows are supposed to eat grass, not the other way around." Buffy thought for a moment. She scrunched her nose up. "They're probably not all window shopping then, could Xander be taking his time choosing the wood. Maybe he can't decide what colour he wants."

Willow frowned. "I think it only comes in one colour until you get it home and paint it."

"I don't know then Will, what time were you expecting them back. Three hours isn't that long."

"I was expecting them back at least an hour ago and that was allowinng for an hour in Boudenver, which I don't think they would need. I gotta admit. I'm getting a little worried. This is a new town after all, on a Hellmouth, or near it anyway, anything could have happened."

Buffy tried to reassure her friend. "I'm sure they're fine. They're probably just dawdling, or exploring. And plus they have Kennedy with them and she's doing alright on the Slayage front. Isn't she?"

Willow automatically started singing her girlfriends praises. "Oh yeah, she's doing great. Totally on top of it. I mean it's a bigger distance to cover. Boudenver is pretty widespread, despite the fact that it's year round population only numbers roughly between one and two hundred people. There are cabins all around in the woods and down by the lake, plus hotels and camping lodges and hunting lodges and ski lodges."

"That's a lot of lodges."

"From what we can gather, yeah. It's the perfect vacationing spot really. You've got the lake, the mountains, the scenery and it's only an hour's drive from Cleveland. Kenn's managing though, but it will be nice when she has some more help, so she's not out nearly all night, every night." Willow looked pointedly at Buffy, but she pretended not to notice.

"So getting back to the garden of evil, what do you thinks causing it?" Buffy changed the subject. She couldn't Slay at the moment, not as a profession so to speak. It wasn't like she'd never slay again, she just needed to take this chance to see what else she could do.

"Well either all those green protestors finally got their wish and the land is claiming back its own. Or it's a spell of some kind."

"Was it…Is it possible you might have inadvertantly caused this?" Buffy tried to phrase her question as nicely as possible. Since the Slayer spell Willow had cast in Sunnydale, her power was stronger than ever. She was controlling it well and working with the coven in England and Giles to learn how to fully understand her capabilities in a safe way. It scared Buffy a little though. She trusted her friend to do the right thing no matter what, but sometimes it seemed as if Willow could cast spells just by thinking about them and well everyone got in a bad mood sometimes.

Willow knew Buffy's fears and she knew that the rest of her friends, with the exception of Kennedy, shared them a little. She felt it a little bit herself, to a lesser extent. She had made things happen in the past, just because her emotions were wonky. It was different now though. She'd been doing mind exercises to help control her magic and one benefit of that was being able to shove it into a seperate bit of her brain. She didn't know how she'd managed that and when she'd asked Giles he told her it was to do with her subconscious not wanting it's host destroyed, so it had created a mental barrier, a kind of circuit breaker, to stop her from turning herself into a frog – 'cause, eek- while she slept, just because she was having a dream about frogs. Nightmare more like.

"No I'm sure it wasn't me. I haven't done anything that could even be misread as this. I could do a spell though, to see if anyone else has done a spell."

"Okay." Agreed Buffy. "That's a start. If we know it's a spell then we know we're looking for someone magically inclined, who isn't you, and we go kick their ass until they break it."

"The only flaw in the plan is that it may be residual. The magic. This place did used to be a Council retreat for goodness knows how many years. It's possible someone cast a spell once upon a time and we're getting the backdraft."

"This place belonged to the Watchers?" Buffy was clearly surprised.

"Yeah, didn't you know. It was an active headquarters until, like, twenty years ago and then the Hellmouth lost its oomph and it was turned into one of those retreats that Giles always moaned he never got to go to. It was like Summer camp for Watchers. That's how come we got it so easily, and cheaply. As Giles is the last remaining member of active Council personnel he just claimed it and we moved in before anyone could say otherwise."

"Hang on, you said something about the Hellmouth here losing it's oomph. Can they do that?"

Willow got off the bed and began clearing a space on the floor amongst the boxes. "Giles started to explain it before he left for England. Something to do with the seven year cycle of Evilness. As the earth shifts so do the realms of the Heavens and the Hells. The dimensions ebb and flow as constant as the tides blah, blah, blah." Willow shrugged. "Its interesting but he was in a hurry and I was unpacking. I wasn't really taking it in, but I'll speak to him about it as soon as he gets back."

"Then you'll explain it to me in short sentences with words of only one syllable, right?"

"Don't I always Buffy."

The two girls smiled at each other, then Willow told her to wait there and left the room.

She was back in a minute with a ball of lumpy purple wax. "Do you have some candles?" She asked.

Buffy thought for a minute, then stood and went through a box at the end of her bed. She pulled out some books, and some C.d's, a travel iron and a cowboy hat. "This is not mine." She held the hat in her hands, wondering where it came from.

"Actually it is, by default. Remember that night in L.A. when me and Dawn and Kennedy dragged you and Xander out to go dancing, and you and Xander decided to have a drinking contest, followed by a 'who can drown in their own drool fastest' contest. Then you both decided to show us how it was done and you were swinging Xander all across the dancefloor…" Willow waited until Buffy guiltily nodded. "Then that guy came over and asked if he could cut in, and Xander tried to punch him in the face." Another guilty nod. "But he got the first punch in and you kicked him in the…in the pants for hurting Xander. And his friends had to carry him out. Well this was his hat. When it fell off you wouldn't let him have it back. In fact you hit him with it I think."

Buffy's head had fallen into her hands, the hat discarded in front of her. "Oh yeah, I remember. I wish I didn't though. In my defence I did say about a thousand times that I didn't want to go out."

"Yes and next time I'll respect you're wishes." Promised Willow.

Shaking it off, Buffy looked back in the box and gave a little sound of triumph. "Candles – lemon scented. Will these do?" She pulled them out of the box and handed them to Willow.

"Perfect." The witch took them and placed them in a circle around her. With a simple flick of her wrist they all ignited. She spotted the plate she'd brought up earlier with the pancakes on. She tipped the uneaten breakfast into an empty carrier bag and placed it on the floor in front of her with the ball of wax on it. "This shouldn't take too long." She said, before closing her eyes and begininning a chant.

Right in front of Buffy's eyes she saw the waxy ball begin to change shape. It took her a couple of minutes before she realised it was melting. After another minute of chanting it was just a purple puddle on the plate. Willow opened her eyes and stared into it.

Buffy looked too, but couldn't see anything. She wondered if the spell had worked. "What do you see?" She asked softly.

Willow didn't answer, she just continued looking. She started to frown and she waved her hand across the plate saying "Arguo urere ui utum." The substance on the plate shimmered slightly but then returned to its previous position of just being a puddle of wax.

Willow quickly blew the candles out and rejoined Buffy on the bed.

"So?" Buffy asked.

"Well it's definitely a spell. Someones cast a net over this place and everything under it is affected. Why anyone would want to set killer plants on us though is a mystery."

"Well couldn't it be like you said a…a backdraft thingie. Maybe the last Watchers here played a prank on the place and we've activated it by moving here. I doubt it's personal."

"Well that's the bigger mysetery. It's been cast within the last twenty-four hours, I'm sure. The power is strong. Giles said to his knowledge no one has been up here for months, possible longer." Willow looked confused.

"Okay so tell me who it is and I'll go have a little word with them." Buffy put the stetson on her head and flicked the front up. "This town ain't big enough for the both of you."

Willow smiled, then grew serious again. "That's the thing, I don't know."

"Can't your spell tell you who?"

"No but it can tell me where and that's the mysterious part of the mystery."

"Why where are they?"

"They're here. They're here right now."

"And it's not you." Buffy checked.

"Ninety-nine per cent sure it isn't me. The only spell I've done in the last couple of days is the beer into milk spell, theres this whole bit with yeast but I'm sure that's not what's done this. The energy here, it feels like a curse and you need whole different ingredients for a spell like that."

"Okay, well that's kinda creepy then." Buffy looked around the room, half-expecting to see someone peeking out at her from the gloom. Willow was doing the same. In a fluid graceful movement, Buffy jumped off of her bed and went to the window. She drew the curtains back and the room was bathed in sunshine. She returned to the bed. "Better. Could it be one of the girls. The new Slayers?"

"Doubtful. As far as I know they have no magical abilty and anyway they're terrified, all of them, after what happened to Cici."

Buffy suddenly remembered something. "I saw something earlier, in the grass. Some kind of Demon, I chased it but by the time I got down there it was gone. I thought I was imagining it. Slaying withdrawals."

"It could have been that. If it was hanging around here, then maybe it wants to gloat over the curse. Which would make it pretty personal."

"Well we'll find it, somehow, eventually and then I can hold it and the new Slayer's can kill it. That should help them overcome their fear."

"And the spell wasn't a complete waste anyway, even if it didn't actually tell us much." Willow added.

"It wasn't?"

"Well no, it got you to start unpacking." Willow ducked as a cowboy hat went flying over her head to hit the far wall.

* * *

Gunn was getting in his groove now. It felt like he had been doing this for years not just a month or so.

"Richard Wilkins the third, knew prior to offering Faith a job, that she had been responsible for his deputy's death. A man he claimed was a close personal friend of his."

"How can you be sure he knew." Interupted the D.A. "How do we know this isn't just more speculation on your part."

Gunn strolled to his desk and picked up a heavy, leather-bound book. "Because I have his journal here and its all there in black and white, well some of its in red and white." He corrected, thinking about the sections on the ascension which were written in blood. "Here take a look."

He handed the book to the other man and carried on speaking. "Now what sort of man does that, protects the murderer of a 'close personal friend'. I'll tell you what sort. A mad man. A man so insane in fact that he will stop at nothing to achieve what he wants – in this case greater political power. It's easy to believe after reading his diary that he wouldn't have stopped until he was bigger than the president. We're talking a guy with world domination pencilled into his 'to do' list."

The D.A hd been studying the book for a few minutes with intense concentration. Now he slammed it shut. "This is absolute rubbish. It's just some childs gibberish. Not a word makes sense."

"That's because its in code. Insane the man may have been but I never said he was stupid. Every word in this journal is written in code, even the labels to the diagrams. He knew the game would be up if anyone ever read it, so he made it next to impossible. Luckily for my client, Wolfram and Hart have a department which specialises in such things." He picked the book up and carried it to the judge's bench where he set it down for him to look at.

"Yes, Wolfram and Hart seem to have a department for everything." The judge grumbled while he flicked through it. "I have no trouble believing they have people who can turn nonsense into fact."

In fact it had taken quite a while to decipher the demon language it was written in, even with Fred, Wes and Angel in on it.

"This will have to be verified by experts outside of the Wolfram and Hart fold." The judge added.

"That's not a problem, keep it as long as you need. I have copies of the relevant pages. Once you get it translated you'll know what I know. That Faith was a scared, no terrified, young girl. With nowhere to live and no money to her name. She took a job that was offered to her by someone in a position of trust. Someone who offered to help her get through this dark time in her life. Someone who reached out to her. And she took that opportunity with both hands. What the Mayor grabbed with both hands was an opportunity to mould this confused and frightened teenager into a ruthless cold blooded killer. He wanted to take her guilt, and her pain and use them to his own advantage, and he did."

* * *

They were grouped together again now, silent except for the thrashing of swords and axes. The heavy duty trimming taking its toll on them all. Even Kennedy was disheartened now. The heat inside the green tunnel was intense and the mosquitos were taking full advantage of the four. She slapped at another on her arm and grimaced in disgust at the smear of blood it's squashed body left.

"Ugh, they're like minature flying Vampires." She wiped her hand on her damp pants.

"Makes you kinda glad Vampires can't really fly like in the movies, doesn't it." Dawn wiped her sweaty hair out of her eyes.

"Dracula could fly." Remembered Xander, then he remembered the rest if it. "Bastard!"

"Oh yeah I heard about you and Dracula. Willow said you two got quite close." Smirked Kennedy.

"It was thrall and we don't talk about it." Xander gritted his teeth.

"You were friends with Dracula? That is so cool." Andrew looked up from scratching his mosqueto bites to gaze in awe at the other man.

"We were not friends, it is not cool and we do not talk about it." Xander pushed ahead of the rest slightly, slashing wildly at the foliage.

"I'll tell you later." Dawn promised Andrew.

"What part of 'We don't talk about it' does no one under..." Xander shouted at them. He spun around to face them, tripped backwards over a vine and disappeared with a crash.

Kennedy stared at the space he had last been. "Huh?"

"Where'd Xander go?" Asked Andrew in a frightened voice.

Dawn shook her head at the other two and pushed in the direction he had fallen. After a few hacks with her sword and some under the breath cursing, she'd cleared a path out in to the bright sunshine.

Xander was laying on the lawn as he had fallen. "I found the house." He told the others as they followed after Dawn.

"So what the Hell happened then." Asked Kennedy. "We leave for an hour and the house decides it doesn't want to let us back in."

"Nah I think if the house didn't want us back in, it would just lock the doors on us. It wouldn't have to go to this much bother." Said Xander, still laying on the ground. The breeze out on the open lawn was Heaven compared to the moist, itchy heat they'd just experienced.

"What so it's just the outside of the house that doesn't like us. Yeah, that's less weird." Dawn was looking at Xander's sneaker, it didn't look quite right.

"Well this is Sunnydale." The carpenter began. "Except no, it's not. It's Boudenver. It's like our very own Hellmouth away from home."

"Yeah, aren't we lucky. Come on lets go see if everyone else is okay." Kennedy pulled his outstretched hand until he was on his feet.

Everyone started towards the house except Xander. "Uh guys!" They turned back to him. "I can't seem to move my feet."

Everyone looked at his feet. "Uh, Xan, don't be too alarmed okay, but the grass has tied itself to your shoelaces." Dawn pointed to them. "I sort of watched it happen, but I didn't know what I was watching."

"Huh?" Xander looked down and saw the thick, lush green strands wrapped in neat little bows around the laces of his sneakers. "Ye Gods." He quickly strained first one foot up and then the other until they came free with an audible snap. "I think it's time we got inside, now!" He said before sprinting for the house, with the others close behind.

* * *

"Please state your full name." The Judge demanded.

Faith stared at him evenly. "I just did- Faith."

The judge made an impatient noise. Gunn's eyes bored into Faith, urging her to co-operate. She just shrugged back. The D.A. hurriedly shuffled some papers around.

Finding what he needed, he looked up at the judge. "Wilkens, your honour, her name is Faith Wilkins. According to her records."

The judge peered at the Slayer over the top of his glasses. "Is that correct?"

"It's as good as any. Y'know, appropriate." Faith shrugged again.

"But is it the name on your birth certificate?" The judge insisted.

Gunn saw that Faith was about to shrug again and jumped up. "No Sir, that's the surname of the late Mayor. My clients employer. Shortly before my client turned herself in she was was in a coma for eight months, the result of a nasty fall. Mayor Wilkins had an account set up to cover her medical fees, and the account was in his name. This was only days before a gas explosion took his own life. The police took her name from the hospital records."

"Which still begs the question – What is your legal surname? And I warn you young lady, any more insolence and my patience will run out completely."

"I'm not trying to be insolent, y'honour. The only surnames I've ever had are the ones I've had to make up to suit some purpose. An' I'm pretty sure that ain't legal."

"Well what was your Fathers name?" The judge tried again.

Faith began to shrug and saw the judge's expression darken. She sighed instead. "I had three 'pops' before I could write my own name, and my real one…he wasn't about that much. He was just Dad to me. My mom used to call him a real f…"

The judge held up his hand and cut her off. "Quite." He pursed his lips. "Mother's maiden name?"

This time Faith allowed herself to shrug. "She couldn't remember her first name mosta the time." She started to fidget. The clothes felt all wrong and she wanted to sit down. The judge was staring at her like she was some kind of an idiot. It wasn't her fault her parents were useless jerks. This all was a waste of everyone's time anyway. It was wicked obvious the judge had made up his mind the second he walked in.

"Continue with your questions." The judge told the D.A. while he scribbled something in his book.

The little man stood from his seat next to Faith and walked around to stand in front of her, the bench between them. Faith thought that was pointless too.

"Miss…ah…Faith. How old were you when you arrived in the town of Sunnydale?"

"Sixteen."

"And before that you were living in Boston, yes? Could you explain your reason for leaving your home and family in Boston and travelling to Southern California?"

"I lived in Boston with my…" Faith hesitated only a second. "…guardian. When she was killed I decided to go visit with some friends of hers."

"And how did your guardian die?"

"She was…um…killed by a maniac with…" She had been about to say cloven feet. How crazy would that sound. She changed direction with barely a pause. "…with a nasty streak. He cut her up in front of me."

"I'm sorry Faith." The D.A. didn't sound all that sorry. "So you knew people in Sunnydale?"

Faith shook her head. "Not until I got there."

"So you travelled all the way across the country to visit with people you had never met. That's a pretty big undertaking for a grl of sisteen, don't you think?"

Faith frowned at him. "I was scared. I'd just seen what he did to my W…Guardian and I knew he'd do the same to me if I gave him half a chance. So I ran like Hell. She always spoke highly of these friends of hers, I figured if I could get to them they might be able to help."

"Were you in some kind of trouble in Boston, Faith?"

"Yeah, I just told you. Some sicko wanted me dead."

"No I mean before that. Was there a reason you and your guardian ran afoul of this man?"

"No just wrong place at the wrong time." Said Faith more or less truthfully.

Gunn stood. "Your Honour, according to the archives of the Boston Post and B.P.D. records, there was a spate of unsolved murders and disappearances in the South Boston area, at the time my clients Guardian was killed." He sat back down.

The D.A. turned and stared hard at Faith. "Do you know anything about these murders, Miss…ah…Faith?"

Faith met his stare. "What are you implying?"

"Miss, may I remind you that you are not here to ask the questions." The Judge intoned.

Faith kept her gaze on the D.A.

"I am implying that before you left Boston there were a number of unsolved murders, including that of the woman in charge of your welfare. These stopped about the same time you fled to Sunnydale. Where shortly after your arrival the murders began again. All this seems like rather a large coincidence, don't you think?" He looked smugly at Faith.

Who in turned, slammed her hands down on the desk and leaned over it. "If you're sayin' I'm responsible for those deaths in Boston, you'd a better start running. There woulda been a lot more if it wasn't for me."

She saw Angel and Giles whispering together on the far side of the room and she felt Gunn's hand on her shoulder. She shook it off but took the hint and changed her stance to a less threatening one.

"There is no evidence to suggest Faith and her Guardian were anything more than unlucky bystanders to the events in Boston. The bodies of the victims that the police managed to find could not have been done by someone of Faith's age, strength or stature. The victims were quite literally torn apart in some cases. The police believe it was some kind of gang warfare, but there is no proof of anything except that these were scary people." Gunn informed the Judge. "If anything, the events that transpired in Boston, go someway to explain the unfortunate decisions Faith made on arrival in Sunnydale."

The D.A. stepped forward again. "While losing someone close to you at young age is indeed tragic, it's no excuse for murder."

"And I'm saying she's not guilty of murder. Just that she got sucked up into a whole chain of nasty occurrence that lead her here. The girl's had a bad break from the word go, and while she's no more blameless than the rest of the human race for making some bad mistakes, her latter mistakes were vastly controlled by the influence of Richard Wilkins III. Is it fair to keep on making her the scape goat for other people's lack of humanity."

The Judge scribbled something down before looking up at the expectant court. "I think it's time we break for lunch. Reconvene in one hour." He stood and left the room.

* * *

Faith paced back and forth the small room she and Gunn had been taken to. An armed guard was standing by the door staring into space. Gunn was leaning over a table shuffling through pages of notes.

"So how do ya think it's going?"

Gunn looked up at the nervous Slayer. "Honestly?"

"Not good, huh." She went back to pacing.

"That little Boston twist could have been a problem but I have paperwork here that says bodies were still being discovered up to three weeks after you left."

"Yeah Kakistos didn't come after straight away. I'd have been dead before I reached Sunnydale if he had."

"Truth is Faith. Most people think you shouldn't be leaving jail anytime soon 'cause you walked away without a pass. They don't know you left to save the world from Angelus and the big Evil. It's stamped all over your files and the fact you came back on your own is only adding a little bit of wieght. We need to prove you should never have been in here in the first place…and threatening the District Attourney ain't gonna help."

Faith slumped against the wall. "I know, I know, but he accused me of killing my Watcher and even at my worse I wouldn't have been able to come up with the things he did to her." She thought about Wesley for a moment and felt sick.

There was a knock at the door before Gunn could answer her. "Yeah?" He called instead.

The door opened and Angel poked his head around it. "Mind if I come in?"

Faith nodded, eager for the distraction. The guard glanced at him before continuing his inspection of the wall.

Angel shut the door behind him. "How're you holding up, Faith?"

"Five by five. Thanks for being here."

He smiled at her. "No problem. Gunn, what do you think?"

"Well it's not good, but it's not terrible either. We know we've got what we need to make this work so it all depends on whether we tell it right. Faith needs to keep her head and answer the D.A's questions, without getting his back up. You and Giles have just got to tell it like it was – more or less. And hopefully Ms. Leighton will be our trump card."

"Ms Leighton?" Faith looked at him, remembering the unknown woman in the court.

"A pyschiatrist come social worker. She's here to tell the court you'd be better off outta here. That the prison system is just going to take what good is in you and destroy it. Much like the Mayor did for a time. You gotta convince her that's the truth though. She's got your records and my notes on you and she's sitting in today to get a feel for you, so make sure she gets what we're looking for her to get. From what I've heard she takes her job real serious and if she thinks you're trying to pull the wool over the Judge's eyes, she'll shove the whole sheep up your ass. Got it?"

"Got it. No fooling around." She turned to Angel. "What you got there, Chief?"

Angel looked at the brown paper bag in his hands as if remembering it was there. "Oh yeah, Giles nipped out and got you both a bit of lunch." He handed the bag to her.

"Cool, I had to cancel my lunch date due to imprisonment so this works out well." She opened the bag and pulled out two big cheeseburgers. "Alright, who'da thought Giles even knew what junk food was." She handed one to Gunn and bit into the other.

"I better get back. I'm not really suppose to be in here." Angel let himself out of the room while the other two tucked in.

"Next time I break out it's gonna be for one of these. Blow the apocalypses."

The guard looked at Faith a little funny, but didn't speak.

* * *

Willow was walking down the stairs with Buffy when Xander and the gang came rushing through the front door.

"Hey guys, what took you so long?" She asked leaning in for a kiss from her girlfriend. "Things have been getting weird around here."

Kennedy put her arm around her waist and together they walked towards the living room. "They're pretty weird out there too."

"I need a long, cool glass of something wet." Dawn announced, heading for the kitchen followed by Andrew.

Xander stood leaning against the door, panting lightly. Buffy looked up at him and saw the bloody gash on his forehead. "What happened?"

Xander grinned. "Hey Buff, nice to see you again. I was starting to think we'd accidently left you in L.A."

"Xander. Tell me why you're hurt or you'll wish you had left me in L.A."

"Jeez Buff. A little patience for the guy with the head trauma." Xander joked, then his face paled and his mouth dropped open. "Buf…"

"What? What is it?" She stepped forward thinking he was about to faint, but she couldn't.

"That happened." He stuttered, pointing to her top.

Looking down she saw the leafy greenness that was creating an intricate lattice work around her chest and stomach. Letting out a cry of surprise, she tried to pull them off, but as quickly as she snapped them, more curly strands of green wound around her fingers, binding them too.

Xander moved to help her, breaking the thin stems even as they slithered over his own hands. He guiltily wondered why he only ever got to grope Buffy when she was in danger, then fear took over as his hands became attached to Buffy's stomach by a covering of green and wouldn't that be a fitting punishment for still harbouring those kinds of thoughts after all this time.

Buffy's startled shriek had brought Kennedy and Willow racing back in to the hall. The young Slayer assessed the problem quickly and ran to the hat stand where she'd just dumped her sword.

Willow stood in front of them, mumbling then discarding incantations under her breath. She watched as her two best friends became enshrounded by the green tendrils. Buffy's struggles became limited as more of her body was encased in the plant. Xander was rooted to Buffy as the greenery crawled up his arms at an alarming rate.. The stood face to face, panic rising in both their eyes.

"Somebody do something." He ground out, trying to ignore the pain in his wrists as he tried to pull them free.

"It's magic, if I do a spell it may make it worse." Willow hopped from foot to foot.

"Kennedy?" Buffy squeaked, her teeth snapping at the leaves around her mouth.

"Just hold still." Kennedy told them. She was trying to find the best angle to strike from. The problem being it was now difficult to tell where Buffy ended and the plant began.

"Can't really do a lot else right now." Buffy mumbled, trying to keep the invasive flora out of her mouth.

Dawn appeared in the kitchen doorway. "What's going on? Oh my God Buffy, are you okay?"

Buffy tried to shrug sarcastically, but the gesture was lost under the tightening hug of the over-friendly pot plant.

Andrew peered over Dawn's shoulder. "What's up? Oh cool." Everyone turned and glared at him. "Or not." He corrected himself, then a light bulb went on above his head. "Hold on." He squealed and ran for the back door.

"Got that part covered." Xander muttered, staring dismally at where his hands were effectively stuck to Buffy.

Andrew ran back in struggling to carry a large green container. "Help me!" He panted, heading for the entangled pair.

Xander's eyes lit up when he saw what the blonde teenager had fetched. "Oh good boy." He sighed with relief.

Willow and Dawn cottoning on rushed to help Andrew with the cumbersome receptacle. Quickly they sloshed it around Buffy's feet and then up her legs.

"I hope this stuff doesn't disolve people." Dawn splashed some on her sisters stomach.

"Me too." Buffy squeaked, she was straining her head backwards trying to avoid a leaf aiming for her nostril.

"Kennedy we're gonna need the other bottle." Willow instructed. "It's by the back door, right Andrew?"

"Uh huh." He poured the rest of the first bottle over Buffy's back and what had been the main body of the plant. When it was empty the three of them began pulling at the strands, snapping them away. They still grew back, but not as fast as before. Little bits of Buffy were visable under the green. Soon Xander felt the pressure on his hands subside. He could wiggle them slightly. Kennedy reappeared with an identical container.

"Buffy shut your eyes. And you too Xander. And keep them closed until I tell you otherwise." Willow told her friends.

When they had complied, Kennedy dumped the entire contents of the second bottle over Buffy's head and the plant.

Everyone stepped back slightly as a high pitched whine emanated from the pair, followed by rising steam. Slowly the greenery turned brown and shrivelled up, falling away as it did so, leaving behind a drenched Slayer and a very relieved carpenter.

"So that's getting back to nature huh? You can keep it." Xander rubbed at his sore wrists.

"Was the plant screaming?" Dawn asked.

"Best not to think about it." Advised Willow.

Buffy was looking around her at the remains of the plant. "Not that I'm not grateful for the save, but did anyone bother to read the label on that stuff before you gave me a drenching."

Kennedy quickly scanned the label on the bottle she was holding. Underneath the name "Busta Weed" were a long list of ingredients. Kennedy grimaced as she read them. "I'd go take a shower if I were you." She said before she got even halfway down the list.

Buffy nodded and started up the stairs.

"Just as well your not a weed, huh." Said Willow. "Y'know, if you couldn't take care of yourself and you were a weed."

Buffy turned on the stairs and gave her friend a look that said: You're very strange.

"Yeah if we'd had to tip it over Andrew, there may have been nothing left." Agreed Kennedy, chuckling.

"Hey." Andrew frowned. "I'm the one who came up with the solution, when you two couldn't. Day-saver here – have a little respect."

Kennedy just laughed harder and followed her girlfriend into the kitchen.

Xander clapped the young man on the back. "Well done, let's have a beer to celebrate."

"I can have one of your beers." Andrew grinned, the affrontary already forgotten.

"Yeah why not. It's been a bad day, we deserve a little good cheer." Xander walked into kitchen followed by Dawn and Andrew. "I don't know why they call them creepers. That thing didn't creep, it ran." He said, reverting back to his flora-bashing.

"I think they're pretty creepy." Smiled Dawn, joining her at the table with a soda.

Willow agreed. "The whole days been pretty creepy. That wasn't our first plant attack." Willow was sitting down gingerly at the kitchen table.

"What's up sweetie?" Kennedy asked concerned.

"Plant bite, but it's okay." She assured her. "Apart from said creep factor."

"Yeah, our morning has been full of creeps too." Kennedy sat too. "There was some old folks in the store and they were whispering about us, but when I confronted them, they denied it.

"And Xander's got a cool and mysterious new nickname, haven't you." Dawn grinned at the one eyed man.

"You have, what is it?" Willow asked, frowning slightly as Xander went to the fridge.

"Yeah." His voice was slightly muffled as he rummaged around for the beers he knew were in there somewhere. He'd left the ones he'd brought in town back at the car. "Got jumped by some big, mean, psychotic pre-adolescents. They called me Wolf. Which is a cool enough nick-name, but considering the man-sized beating those little brats were handing out to me, I don't think it was a complimentary thing."

"That's weird." Willow's frown deepened when she saw Xander pull two beer bottles from the fridge.

He passed one to Andrew, then took a seat at the table and opened his own. He held it in his hand while he was still talking. "I reckon they would have mashed me down to burger patty if Kennedy hadn't scared them off. It was weird, I mean they had some serious rage towards me. Then with the whole having to hack our way home like jungle explorers and being eaten alive in the process." He scratched at some mosquito bites on the back of his neck. "I really need this." He took a big swig from his bottle and nearly sprayed it across the room. "Will! Enough already! You are not the mom of me! Turn it back!"

* * *

After a brief argument Willow agreed to turn Xander's beer back into beer.

"Just as long as you know I'm only doing it under protest." She pouted.

"I don't care." He told her, draining the bottle.

Buffy came down the back stairs. "Showers all yours, Xander."

"Yeah I guess I did get splashed by that stuff quite a bit. I'll go get cleansed and then we'll Scooby up." He disappeared the way Buffy had just come.

Buffy sat at the table in his place and played with his empty beer bottle. She felt a bit weird being down here with all of them, She'd pretty much kept to herself in Los Angeles, unless company was forced upon her and since arriving at their new home, she'd barely left her bedroom. Everyone was smiling at her and she felt a little paranoid, like she'd been the topic of conversation before she entered. Even though she had clearly heard Willow and Xander arguing about beer. She smiled back nervously. "Hi guys, so whats the plan?"

Kennedy shrugged. "We were waiting for you B… I mean, Buffy." She hung her head. "Sorry. That just slipped out."

"It's okay, it's just a name." Buffy smiled and held back the anguished shriek she wanted to let out.

"Talking about creepy." Began Andrew.

"We were?" Buffy looked confused. "You think my name is creepy?"

Everyone laughed and then realised they were laughing.

"Uh sorry, no Buffy's not a creepy name." Stuttered Willow.

"Its actually the opposite of creepy. Which is probably why the bad guys fear it so much." Added Kennedy, helpfully.

"Yeah. It gives the bad guys the creeps, because it's not creepy, or something." Dawn smiled brightly at her sister.

Buffy and Andrew shared a look of perplexity, which Buffy found creepy.

"I was talking about things today being creepy, you know, the discussion we were having before you ruined Xander's "I'm glad to be alive" celebratory beer." Andrew looked pointedly at Willow.

"I'm not going to feel guilty for trying to protect his health." Willow's voice rose at being unjustly criticised.

"Um, okay guys. We've just watched the first showing of this, we don't need a rerun straight away." Dawn's head bobbed, the way it did when she was saying something she was sure was going to turn the flames on her.

"She's right, you guys." Buffy backed her sister up. "What was it you were going to say Andrew."

"Well Willow said we were looking for someone, possibly a demon, around here who did a spell on us. To make the plants go all evil. So I was thinking about the stuff that's happened today that has been weird."

Buffy nodded at the young man encouragingly. "Go on."

"Well first there was the dead Maritima demon on the road, it didn't look like it had been dead that long, but I don't think it could have cast the spell, they're not known for being particularly bright."

"You found a dead demon in the road? What did you do with it?" Asked Buffy.

"Left it, it was road kill. Not our problem." Kennedy told her.

"You didn't hide it, or bury it or anything. What if someone sees it."

"Buffy, it was big and it was stinky and I forgot to put my regulation Slayer shovel in my pocket this morning. If you care so much, you go out there and bury it."

Buffy hung her head. "I was just saying." She said quietly.

"Number two." Continued Andrew. "The rude people in the store that were muttering about us. Maybe one of them was a witch, or a wizard."

"But what I felt was here, somewhere in the house, or very near it, when I did the spell. If you saw these people in town and it took you that long to get through how did they manage it quicker?" Wondered Willow.

"Magic." Offered Dawn. Willow had to admit it was possible.

Buffy looked thoughtful. "If the demon thing I saw earlier was responsible, then I don't think it was human shaped. It was low to the ground and it kind of slithered, or appeared to. I didn't actually see a lot, I more heard it." She admitted.

Andrew cleared his throat. "Third. Xander getting the smack down from a gang of miniture thugs."

"Xander got beaten up by midgets?" Asked Buffy.

"No, little boys. Really pissed off little boys." Said Kennedy.

"Oookay."

"And them calling him wolf. That's got to mean something." Andrew looked around the table. "And then there's the creepy castle."

"There's a castle too?" Buffy was beginning to wish she'd just stayed in her room. All this information was bringing on a migrane.

"Well it wasn't really a castle, more like a big old mansion place on a hill." Supplied Dawn.

"But it had turrets." Added Andrew. "Do you think this witch, or spell-casting demon could be living there. Its not far away."

Buffy and Kennedy both looked at Willow.

"It's possible. I still say whoever cast the spell was here when I did my spell, but that doesn't mean they don't live there, or in town, or anywhere really."

"So we're back to square one on the knowledge front?" Asked Kennedy.

"Nothing new there. Just means we go back to grass roots – sorry wrong choice of phrases there – and check everywhere." Said Buffy. "We've got five Slayers here. We can cover all the bases."

"I'll go get the other girls. Where are they?" Dawn stood up and chucked her empty soda can away.

"Upstairs in their bedroom. I told them to stay inside until we had this sorted." Willow told her and Dawn left to go fetch them.

"Okay so we need this place checked from top to bottom, then we need this castle- come-mansion checked out and…do you think we should go into town and check things out?" Buffy started to plan.

"Unless we're prepared to knock on every door and do a monster related questionaire. I don't think it will help." Said Willow. "But if you want to do that, I can soon whip one up on the computer." She smiled.

"Can you break the spell yourself Will?" Was Buffy's next question.

"Eventually I would be able to, but the simple release spells I've tried so far this afternoon obviously haven't worked, I need to do some research and try a few things." She stood and walked towards the little office she had set up. "Which I will begin now. I will break it Buffy but it might take a while."

Buffy looked at Kennedy. "So we'll just cover those two locations and hope Will comes up with something soon. If all else fails we'll try her questionaire thingy." She smiled at the brunette Slayer.

Kennedy stood and stretched. "Okay, so we'll start with round here."

"Well I was thinking we could split up, y'know, you take one team and do this castle and I'll do around here. It will be quicker."

Kennedy stared hard at her elder. "And you won't have to leave the grounds right? What are you so scared of out there, Buffy?"

"Nothing." Said Buffy annoyed. "Nothing at all. It's just you're the Slayer now Kennedy. I've done my time and it's your turn."

"And it's that easy?"

"It is for me."

"So you just can't be bothered now. You've had a little heartbreak and now the world can all just go to Hell." Kennedy goaded.

"Kennedy, don't even pretend to know what I'm thinking. Maybe when you've done seven years on a Hellmouth you can critisise me, until then just shut the Hell up. If you don't like being the Alpha Slayer then blame Faith, 'cause it should be her job anyway."

"So if I'm the Alpha Slayer, can I have the Scythe." Kennedy changed tack.

"No." Buffy stood, preparing to put an end to this conversation.

"Why not. I don't think you should get to keep it if you're not even gonna use."

"The Scythe is…is special. It's not just another weapon, it's powerful." Buffy explained.

"So you don't trust me with it."

Buffy smirked at her. "No I don't. I don't trust any of you newbies with it. Kennedy, you stay alive long enougth to earn the right to wield that Scythe. I'll gladly pass it on to you. Until then, you can keep your mitts off."

The three news Slayers came down the stairs with Dawn and Xander and Buffy turned her attention towards them. Andrew, from his place still at the table, breathed a sigh of relief. He'd thought they were about to start fighting, and he so didn't want to be sat in the middle of a Slayer brawl.

* * *

Faith was getting seriously fed up. She'd been answering this idiots questions for thirty minutes straight, stirring up more and more bad memories.

"So tell me again about the night Allan Finch died?"

Faith took a deep breath. "A friend and I were walking down a dark alley, on our way to the Bronze, which is a night club in Sunnydale. It wasn't the smartest thing to do 'cause there were some nasty types in Sunnydale, but y'know what its like when you're young. We thought we were invincible. So we're walking down this alley when all of a sudden this guy jumps out at us from behind a dumpster. It scared us both bad. He jumped at my friend and she managed to shove him away and I just kind of ran at him and knocked him over. I was holding a stick, I was gonna smack him over the head with it, but then he just collapsed and he was bleeding and then that was it. It was horrible." Faith hung her head and the tears in her eyes were not forced. Every night she saw his face again. It was like being back in prison had reopened the nightmare theatre.

"The stick you were holding just happened to go through his heart, with enough force to kill him."

"Do you really think that if I wanted to off some guy, I'd stake him or whatever it's called. That's for people who believe in the things that go bump in the night. I thought he was gonna rape us and I wanted to smack him hard enough to keep him down while we ran away. That's all."

"And what was your reaction when you realised you'd killed him?"

"I went crazy for a couple of days, wouldn't you? I denied it completely, and when it wouldn't go away I tried to blame my friend for it, and when that didn't work I tried to run away. Except the Mayor had sent a little retrieval party out to find me. See he knew what I'd done and he wanted revenge, but then he met me and decided I'd be more use to him alive than dead. I guess you could say I was head hunted or something." It hurt to talk about the Mayor like this. However much of a bastard he may have ultimately been, he had been good to her. She felt like she was betraying him.

"So you took the job he offered willingly?"

"The answer to that would be yes because I didn't really think I had a choice. By the time he had told me his proposal, I already knew to much, if you know what I mean."

"You didn't mind the unpleasant tasks he had you preform?"

"Well to start with they weren't all that unpleasant. Just fetching and carrying. I'd go meet people, pick up important documents for him, make exchanges. Stuff he couldn't have his regular boys do 'cause it was all a bit delicate. Stuff that could hurt his public persona, y'know. Plus I got a wicked cool new uptown apartment out of it, and I got money, and he wasn't too bad a person when he was happy with me. I guess I learnt to keep him happy."

The D.A. pulled a face and chose his next words carefully. "Was there some kind of sexual relationship between you and your employer."

It was Faith's turn to pull a face. "Wash your mouth out. He was old and it wasn't like that. He was more like a dad to me, more than my dad ever was. He treated me with respect."

"But only when he was happy with you?"

"Well you don't reward a disobediant child, do ya? He expected the same respect back that he gave me. If I didn't, or if I didn't do as he asked, or I messed something up because I didn't try my best, then he'd get mad."

Giles and Angel shared a look at the other table. Neither had been aware just how attached to the Mayor, Faith had become. Of course the young girl they had known back in Sunnydale would not have seen the manipulation for what it was. She would have just been happy that an adult saw the specialness in her that her parents hadn't. That someone wanted her for more than just sex. It maybe that he wanted her just for the violence, but even that would have been unique for the girl, after having lived in Buffy's shadow for months. Both men felt a little guilty that they'd let the Mayor get his hands on her before they could find a way to reach her.

* * *

"Okay guys and gals, hang on to your hats." Xander fumbled with some keys.

"Are you sure this is going to work? How long has this monster even been here? I bet it doesn't start." Kennedy jumped as the engine of the enormous truck they were in, roared to life.

"Au contraire, my little disbeliever. Me and Giles took this baby out last week. He wants to use it to clear all the dead fall from the back track when he gets back from London. That's gonna be a bigger job than he thought. So it's all juiced up and ready to go."

The truck lurched forward out of the shed and started towards the front track they'd cut a swathe through earlier. When Xander reached the edge of the overgrown undergrowth, he gunned the engine.

"Ready." He called over the noise, Kennedy, Miranda, Alison and Andrew all nodded and he eased the truck forward to the accompanying synphony of snapping branches and green stuff being ripped up by its roots.

* * *

"Mr Giles, you were one of the first people in Sunnydale to have any contact with Miss Faith. What did you think of her?"

"I thought she was a very spirited young woman. She was smart and capable for her age, but I felt she was scarred from previous trauma. This was obviously before she had explained the situation to me in full. She was a little wary for a while upon her arrival, but she soon put her demons behind her and became a valued member of the team."

"Team, Mr Giles?"

"Ah yes, I was the libarian at the high school and several of my students used the space to discuss things they felt of importance to the well being of the school and on occasion the town." Giles tried to remember a cover story Xander had once come up with, he smiled. "Ah yes, The Crime Club. They did some very good work. Stopping locker thieves and …escaped hyenas and such. Faith was an avid member for some time."

"Really?" The D.A, asked, looking sceptical.

"Oh yes." Giles nodded.

"When the …uh…accident happened involving the death of Mr Finch, were you aware of you're friend's role in it?"

"Um, she came to me soon after and told me about it. She didn't explain her involvment right away. She was scared and confused and didn't feel she knew me well enough to trust me. When she did tell me everything a few days later, I'm afraid I didn't handle it very well, plus a colleague of mine overheard us talking and went straight to the authorities." Giles didn't have to tell them he meant the Watchers council and not the police."

"You, yourself didn't think it might be a good idea to go to the police?"

"Of course, but I wanted Faith to trust me enough to take my guidance and go to the police with the truth, not have my associate run off half cocked screaming blue murder."

"So was it your influence do you think that encouraged Faith to eventually turn herself in?"

"No that came all from her. Once she'd awoken from her coma, she realised she was out of the Mayor's control and once again in charge of her own life and she went to L.A. to hand herself in. She knew she had done wrong and she wanted to make amends for it.

"Okay, skipping forward a few years Mr. Giles, it was to you and Sunnydale that Faith came when she escaped from Stockton correctional facility, yes?"

"Yes."

"And can you explain that? What was important enough in Sunnydale for her to turn her back on her own ethical decision and make an escape."

"Faith's other friends and I were in grave trouble, she heard that and she decided she needed to help. She's a very loyal person."

"What sort of trouble?"

'Come on old boy, think, think. Why didn't I reherse this part?' Giles scolded himself while smiling warmly at the D.A. "Ah… The Crime Club, They found evidence that some nasty so and so's were planning on taking over Sunnydale. When my friends intervened they were met with some very nasty threats, some of which were carried out when we said we were going to the authorities. People we cared about died. Faith decided she couldn't stand by and watch it happen. I'm not saying I applaud her decision to break out, but I will say I'm very glad she was there. I don't know if we would have got through it so well if she hadn't been."

"All of this sounds very far-fetched, Mr Giles."

"Yes it does rather, doesn't it." He smiled. "And of course, shortly after that the earthquake hit, the largest in this part of the world for over seventy years so I'm told and the entire town was in a state of panic. Faith stayed calm and helped us evacuate the town. I truly believe a lot more people would have lost their lives if Faith had remained in prison."

The judge spoke up this time, peering over his spectacles at the Watcher. "Tell me, Mr Giles, if Faith were to be released in the near future, and that's a mighty big if still at the moment, but would you be prepared to stand by her, help her stay on the right path."

"Of course. In fact I'm just about to open a private school in Cleveland. If Faith were to be released then she could come and live there and continue her studies."

Faith raised her eyebrows and smirked. 'Yeah right' she thought.

The Judge nodded thoughtfully and wrote something on his pad. Giles went to sit down with a smile on his face.

* * *

Angel stood facing the D.A. feeling like a little school boy about to get the cane. He was still more comfortable skulking in shadows than he was out in the open in front of people. Especially weasely little lawyers like this one. They always made his fangs itch.

The D.A gave him a bright, false smile. "I believe Faith was staying with you when she decided to confess her crimes, yes?"

"Yes, she came to me for guidance, when she woke up, from her coma."

"And can you describe what kind of state she was in?"

"She was distressed, upset. She could barely live with what she'd done. She just wanted to make it better, but she knew she couldn't."

"And so she handed herself over to the authorities. You visited her on a regular basis, yes?"

"When I could. I work kind of unsociable hours, but I went when I was able."

"And what is your relationship to Faith?"

"Uh, well, friends I guess. We knew each other back in Sunnydale. We hung out a bit."

"You hung out a bit. That's all? Yet she came to you in her darkest hour, and you gave up your valuable time to visit her, and now are possibly risking both your own and your company's reputation by speaking on her behalf."

"Things changed. I think I was the only person she knew in L.A. When she came to me, we talked, we got closer, she confided in me."

"And this was just after she tried to kill you in cold blood, yes?"

Angel sucked unecessary air through his teeth and he heard similar sounds from Giles and Gunn. He glanced over at Faith, but she was staring hard at her hands, palms flat on the table top, expressionless.

"I, ah, that was, it was a misunderstanding."

"Shooting at you with a longbow was a misunderstanding? Was she actually aiming for someone else then?"

"She wasn't trying to shoot me, not really. She was just trying to get my attention."

"And an arrow in the back is certainly going to achieve that." The D.A. chuckled to himself.

"It was a cry for help." Angel asserted. "She wanted my help but after everything she's been through, she didn't know how to ask for it. All she's ever been taught is violence. Afterwards she apoligised and I accepted."

"That's very forgiving of you Mr. Angel."

"I've learned to be, and anyway if she's as deadly as you are making her out to be, I wouldn't be standing here telling the tale, would I. She was a mixed up kid who needed a break. I gave her one and she's never done anything to give me reason to regret it." Angel turned to the judge. "If you give her one now, you won't regret it either."

The judge didn't even bother to look up as he answered. "I've yet to be convinced of that."

* * *

Xander slowed the truck down as they came upon another turn off. "This one?"

Kennedy stared hard at the map. "Think so."

"Well it wasn't the last two and if we go much further we'll be back in town." Decided Xander and swung the vehicle onto the new road. "So let me get this straight. You're pissed 'cause Buffy won't give you the Scythe?"

"No, I'm pissed off that I never get to climb into bed with Willow until four in the morning." Kennedy looked at the map again. "Take the left fork, it should take us straight there."

"Buffy's been there and done that. Except for the getting into bed with Willow part." Xander thought for a moment. "As far as I know. She just wants a rest." The trees gave way to a circular driveway. "Bingo. Let's check it out."

Xander switched off the truck and jumped out. Kennedy, Miranda and Alison followed suit. Andrew stayed put looking up at the house.

"Andy, come on." Xander held the door open while he waited for the blonde to jump out.

"Uh, don't you think someone should stay here and look after the truck. 'Cause, like, we don't know what might be around. We shouldn't put all our eggs in one haunted castle."

"Okay, stay here, do not go wandering off. If we don't come back call Buffy on your cell and tell her where we are, got it?" Xander slammed the door shut.

Andrew looked around at the dark, imposing forest. There was still at least two hours of daylight left, but the trees were already casting long, deep shadows over the front of the house. "No worries about me wandering off." He muttered to himself, and snapped the door locks down.

Xander and the girls made their way to the steps leading up to the grand entrance door.

"Buffy doesn't want to rest, she just doesn't want Slaying to cut into her sitting around and moping time. It's not healthy, mark my words, if she doesn't snap out of it, in six months she'll be shuffling around in her nightdress and curlers, trying not to trip over her forty-three cats, and I am not a cat person…"

Xander shushed Kennedy mid-rant as they reached the front door and he put his ear to it.

"Should we knock?" Asked Alison sotto voce.

"I'm thinking that's not the best start to a trespassing mission." Xander muttered, looking up at the house.

All the windows, and there was a lot of them, were dark. Some had broken panes, or shutters hanging off the wall. Some were even open, frames probably wedged that way long ago.. None of them looked welcoming.

"So what do we do?" Stuttered Miranda. In the four days Xander had known the young Slayer she had never once stuttered.

Xander put his finger to his lips and slowly reached for the door handle. They all tensed as he rested his hand on it. He mouthed one, two, three and began to turn it, giving a gentle push with his other hand as he did so. They all held their breath.

After a minute they let it back out again, panting slightly.

Xander looked bewildered. "Damn, who locks a deserted house. Where are all the useful homeless guys when you need them."

"Maybe it's not deserted" Said Miranda, hopefully.

"Maybe it's dangerous inside, and they locked it to keep the kids out." Suggested Alison.

Xander touched his now bandaged forehead. "The most dangerous thing around here is the kids."

Kennedy had jumped from the steps and was walking along the edge of the house. The weed choked gravel crunched beneath her sneakers. Finding what she was looking for she called back to the others. Xander, come give us a leg up."

"We can't do that, can we?" Miranda asked nervously.

"Don't see why not. Trespassings trespassing, whichever way we get in. Though the window just feels more secret-ops." Said Kennedy.

Xander shrugged and went to help her through the window.

* * *

The flames of a small fire flickered, making the rest of the room seem even darker than it was. Almost no natural light made it to this corner of the gloom.

"Haave yow gert it lads?"

"Yas Mawther." Several voices said at once, in the lilting tongue they were bred with.

"Good. Put tha jowders in tha fringle."

Several items were thrown on the fire, making it hiss and pop. The flames climbed higher.

"Mad-ley-moed, Mawther. Hubba bad." Came a voice, it's owner sounding scared and unsure of its place to speak.

"I know lad. Enough Skalling, I'm an old totle. Lets end this to-wance."

As their leader raised her hands, the flames grew higher and higher. The shadows on the wall grew until they covered the entire wall. The tribe bowed before their powerful leader.

* * *

Buffy and Cici made their way back into the kitchen where Willow was sat at her laptop.

"So how are you feeling?" Buffy asked the new girl.

"Okay, a little sore in places but I fell off my horse once into a bramble bush and it's not that disimilar."

Buffy smiled the smile of someone never quite spoilt enough to get the pony. It was still a touchy subject. "Well that's good." She turned to her friend. "Well Will, that's the whole house searched. I guess we do the grounds next. How many sheds are there?"

The red-head looked up. "Three barns, a stable block, oh and a woodshed."

"We have a stable block, does it have horses?" Buffy asked.

"Nope, unless it has ghost horses. Might be kinda funny trying to ride one of them." Willow went back to her laptop. Why people liked horses was a mystery to her. They were just arm eating machines.

"Ooh maybe Mr. Giles will let me have Pinochio stay here." Cici chirped, already excited at the prospect.

"Pinochio?" Buffy and Willow repeated, sharing a smirk.

"My horse."

"Ask him, he's due back tomorrow." Said Willow.

"Lets go Cici. We'll start with the stables and you can check it out for Pinochio." Buffy ushered the young Slayer out the door, while she talked excitedly about her horse.

* * *

The four walked quietly around the large house. There were a lot of rooms. Some had furniture still in them, some did not and were just empty, cobweb covered caverns. The main staircase was wide and long and still had a threadbare scarlet carpet running down it's centre. What was obvious was that a some point in the past, someone pretty wealthy had owned the place.

"I wonder why it was abandoned?" Miranda asked quietly.

"Could be any reason. Maybe the owners lost all their money in the wall street crash." Suggested Xander, opening a few doors down the second floor hallway.

"Maybe the owners died. They may still be here. This place is pretty out of the way. Maybe no one ever found them." Kennedy checked a few doors on her side of the landing. They all revealed much of the same emptiness.

"I don't want to find a dead body!" Alison pulled a face.

"You're a Slayer. It's going to happen sooner or later." Kennedy told her. "You might as well get used to it."

"But it's gross." The blonde girl grumbled.

They began to move up the second flight of stairs.

"Agreed, but unavoidable, I'm afraid." Said Xander.

They checked the doors on the third level. The two young Slayers becoming more confident the further they went without incident. Xander and Kennedy growing more nervous knowing that with less places left to check the more chance there was of some mad axe demon jumping out on them from a hall closet.

Eventually they made their way to the far end of the corridor. Here was another set of steps, narrow and plain compared to the previous two staircases. At the top was a simple wooden door. There was no sign on it saying "Beware all who enter here!", But Xander felt the really should be. He put one hand on the banisters and his foot on the first step.

"Well it was nice knowing you guys." He quipped, adjusting his eye-patch. Something Kennedy noticed he always did now when he was nervous.

"We're not really going to go up there, are we?" Squeaked Miranda. "That's the attic, up there. The killer always hides in the attic, in all the scary movies. Everyone knows you don't don't go into the attic in a haunted house. You 'll get got!"

"Miranda, you don't get killers in haunted houses, you get ghosts." Xander tried to reason with the frightened girl.

"And you think that's any better?" She asked.

Xander thought back to his run ins with the paranormal and had to agree it wasn't, but still. "It's the only place left to check." He was about to start the climb when Kennedy put her hand on his arm.

"There's nothing up there." She said. "We might as well go."

"How can you be sure?" He stepped back down to the landing, hoping he didn't appear to eager.

"This place is covered top to toe in dust. Look, even the floor. The only footprints are ours." The other three looked at the floor.

She was right, there were a lot of scuffed footprints but they all obviously belonged to them. One set leading towards and away from each door they had methodically checked.

"Plus," she continued, "the front door was locked, and so was the back 'cause we checked. Even if someone got in through the window like us there would be some evidence surely. I don't know candle wax drippings, or the scent of incense, maybe a bubbling cauldron. If there's anything up in that attic, besides the poisonous spiders and killer bees we'd probably disturb, then they're not flesh and blood and we can't do anything about them."

Kennedy started to walk back the way they had come. "Besides it's nearly dark and if I don't start patrol soon, I'll be even later curling up with my girl."

"Okay, come on, let's go." Agreed Xander, more relieved than he cared to admit in front of the girls.

They made their way down the two flights of the stairs and headed for the once plush palour room, and the window they'd entered through.

A figure stepped from the shadows under the stairs and watched them go. "Interesting." He murmured.

* * *

Buffy jumped when her cell phone began it's high pitched ring. She'd pulled her jacket on before leaving the house without even realising it was still in the pocket.

"Hello." She spoke into it. Wondering who on earth was calling her.

"Slow down. What do you mean, they went into the house and never came back? Where are you?"

Dawn and Cici both stopped poking into the dark corners of the barn to listen to the one-sided conversation.

"No don't go in, there's nothing you can do. I'll get Willow and somehow we'll get to you." Buffy started to leave the barn. "Though I don't know how we'll get through the wilderness without the monster truck."

"………………."

"What? What is it? They're there. All of them. And they're okay."

"…………………"

"Well thanks for the heart attack, Andrew. Yeah, hurry back so you can help us. Did you know we have more outhouses than we have house." Buffy turned her phone off and put it back in her pocket.

"What is it? What happened?" Her sister demanded.

"Just Andrew getting scared of the dark. He thought they'd all been murdered in the ghost house but just as he was working himself into a frenzy they came out. They're gonna meet us back here, help us finish up before its completely dark."

"They better hurry then." Cici nodded towards the dimming sky.

"Well there's nothing in here." Dawn took a final look around.

"Right well that leaves one more barn and one woodshed." Buffy lead the way to the next barn.

"Surely nothing would be doing magic from the wood shed, there wouldn't be enough room, would there?" Cici tried to toss her hair over one shoulder, forgetting it was shorter now. The roses had done quite a job on it. Willow had done the best she could, but the young Slayer desperately wanted to go to a professional salon in Cleveland. Willow may have been a wonderful Wicca, but she was no hairdresser.

Buffy shrugged and put her finger to her lips as she pushed back the door to the last pitch black barn. It smelled strongly of musty hay and possibly musty cows too.

"Okay, it really is getting a bit dark for this. Lets go and get some flashlights and come back." Whispered Buffy and lead the way back to the main house.

* * *

Buffy, Dawn, Cici and Willow were just leaving the last barn as the big truck pulled up in front of them. Chunks of vegetation were caught up in its wheel arches, but otherwise it was none the worse for wear.

Xander shut the engine off and jumped out. The others followed suit.

"Find anything?" Buffy called, as her group walked over to join them.

"Not a thing." Kennedy gave Willow a hug. "How about you guys?"

"Nothing so far. We've checked everything but the woodshed." Dawn swung her flashlight around to point at the woodshed. It was a small rickety wooden structure a little way from the house. "Doesn't look big enough to hold a monster does it."

"Well let's get it over with." Buffy strode towards it, with everyone else close behind.

When they were still several yards away Kennedy spoke. "Hang on. Do you hear that?"

Everyone strained their ears. There was a chorus of "No's"

"Yeah." Said Buffy.

Signalling for the others to stay put, the two Slayers crept forward to the edge of the woodshed. From inside they could hear chanting. It was strangely mellifluous, spoken in some exotic demon tongue, but chanting was chanting.

Buffy and Kennedy met each others eyes and after three bobs of their heads they crashed into the door, sending it flying open to bang onto the inside wall. The pair rushed in, looking around in the small space, for anything that could chant. There was a tiny fire in one corner of the shed and it sent hundreds of shadows racing across the walls.

Buffy frantically searched, but she couldn't make out what were shadows and what was not. She could here scuffling coming from around the walls and it reminded her of the snaky type demon she had seen earlier, what if the shed was full of snakes. She shivered and looked harder. All the while the demon language flowed over them, seeming to come from every side.

* * *

_(A/N Indicates flashback>>>>>>>> )_

_  
_**Act Four **

**  
**The wood shed was an eight foot by eight foot hole of chaos. Demon voices echoed all around the two Slayers, some shrill others gruff. Monstrous shadows danced across the walls, confusing Buffy even more.

The rest of the gang charged in behind them, wanting to help with the unknown foe. Andrew ran clumsily into Buffy's back and her flash light fell from her hand. It hit the dusty, straw-strewn floor and spun unevenly once before dying.

Andrew dropped to his hands and knees to retrieve it for her, muttering his apologies. Something smacked the back of his head, hard. Yelping in pain, his hand instinctively went to the sore spot and encountered a lump, a wriggling lump. His yelp turned to a girly scream and he wrenched it away from his scalp, tearing a lot of hairs out at the same time. In a panic, he threw the offending wriggly thing away from him as hard as he could.

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeee! Splat!

Andrew cringed.

Kennedy was standing a still as possible. The dark, shadow filled, smoky room was awash with vibration. Kennedy was poised trying to find the one that mattered. Something passed her leg so fast it made her pant leg flap slightly in its wake. Moving on instinct she lunged forward, and landed hard on the dirty floor. She sneezed as the dust cloud she'd raised from the wooden floor swirled around her. A blast of moist warm air hit her between the eyes accompanied by a rude noise sounding something like "thruuurprrrrrr."

There was a thwunk followed by the sound a cross bow bolt makes when it buries itself in a wooden wall. "Ooops." Said Dawn.

Xander felt the breeze of its passage and jumped backwards landing heavily on Willow's foot, who cried out in pain and surprise and shoved him forward again.

Through it all the chanting went on, a calm low murmur standing out against the chaos.

Buffy closed her eyes for a moment. The whirling shadows created by the fire were just serving to confuse her. With her eyes closed, her sense of hearing picked up and she tuned it into the chant. She couldn't understand the words, demon languages had never been her strong point, and if you believed Giles she could barely handle English. She started taking baby steps towards the voice, mindful of the fire being somewhere in front of her. Something caught her foot and tripped her, Buffy shouted in alarm and it mingled with another from somewhere by her feet.

"Yow gret big get – watch weer yaw a'goen!" Was followed by a series of prickling pains on her ankle. She reached down to smack at the demons claws before it managed to rip her flesh from her bones and something sharp and pointy clamped onto her finger hard! She screamed and shook her hand vigorously, after a few hard shakes it released her finger and she heard it thump to the ground. She sat on the floor clutching her sore finger to her chest.

Willow stood in the centre of the chaos and tried to get a feel for the magic being used. She couldn't understand the words but she could sense the spell, feel its power. She could tell by the energy it created that it was a reversal spell, most likely the one she'd been trying to emulate all afternoon. Her next question was 'who's doing the reversing and why?'

She searched the darkness in vain when she heard Kennedy hit the floor and curse, the pain from Xander standing on her foot caused her eyes to water and she ducked when she heard the crossbow bolt hit the wall, even though common sense told her it was a bit late for ducking, but when she heard Buffy scream she had, had enough. 'Trying to concentrate here, people!' She clapped her hands together,

"Fiat lux."

As she pulled her hands apart a ball of bright light floated in between them, slowly it rose to the roof, illuminating everything and dispelling the shadows. Everyone raised their arms to their eyes and blinked rapidly in the sudden glaring brightness.

The sounds of frenzied scampering echoed around the small shed for a moment, but by the time everyone's vision had adjusted, the place was empty, save for a tiny fire and some lonely chunks of firewood.

"What the...?" Xander spoke for all of them.

Buffy was still sitting on the dirty, straw covered floor nursing her bleeding finger. Andrew was knelt next to her rubbing the back of his head and staring at the crossbow bolt that was sticking out of the wall mere inches from Xander's head. Not surprisingly that's where his attention was too. Kennedy picked herself up from the floor and wandered over to look at wet, red smudge on the wall. There were red drips underneath it. Willow went to investigate.

"Blood." She confirmed.

Dawn stood by the door still, sheepishly hugging her now empty crossbow. "Sorry guys."

The three new Slayers were huddled together outside, peering through the doorway. Miranda asked. "Did you get it?"

* * *

The gang were sat back in the kitchen. A quick search of the wood shed had turned up nothing more than a few spiders. Buffy's finger had been bandaged by Dawn, and was sticking out like a sore …well, finger.

Willow had set up some chemistry equipment that Buffy and Xander vaguely remembered from high school.

"Did you buy all those test tubes in L.A.?" Asked Buffy, staring at the bubbling liquids.

"Yes indeed-y, the Council paid for it." Willow grinned.

"And is it worth their money?" Xander grabbed a beer from the fridge and sat next to the red-head, joining Buffy in staring at the glass tubes of colourful bubbles. "If you didn't know it was blood it would be quite pretty." He coughed and took a mouthful of his beer. "Except I'm a man and I wouldn't notice things like that." He said in his most manly voice.

Willow looked at Xander. "Yes to you being a man, no to it being pretty, and yes to it being worth it. It's telling me its blood. Which is what I need to know. Hence the worth."

Buffy thought on that for a moment. "But we, you, already knew that."

"True, but I didn't know what kind." Willow explained.

"But you do now?" Xander looked at the tubes curiously, wondering how all he could see was bubbling red stuff and Willow could use it to unlock the secrets of the universe.

"Sort of." Willow's brow furrowed and she dipped something into one of the tubes.

"I don't think the Council would see that as worth their money." Buffy reached across the table for Xander's beer and stole a few gulps before replacing it. Xander was to busy scratching his ear to notice.

Kennedy came into the kitchen pulling on her coat. "I'm off to patrol. Who's with me?"

Xander looked up first, still scratching his ear. "Not tonight Kenn, I've had enough action for one day. I am but a lowly carpenter."

Willow looked up too and gave her a sweet smile. "I'm gonna have to pass too, baby. I have to get this analysed so we know what we're dealing with."

"What about you Buffy?"

"No thanks, I'm retired remember. Dawn's not going either, she's banned from patrolling until she learns how to put the safety on the crossbow." She ignored Dawn's pout.

"So you mean I'm doing it on my own again? All of it?" Kennedy was not pleased.

Buffy shrugged. "Why don't you take the girls? I'm sure they're as eager for action as you."

Alison, Miranda and Cici all looked up from the other end of the table in alarm.

"I don't know, Buffy. They haven't had any formal training yet. It might be a bit soon to send them out into the field." Willow cautioned.

Buffy took another sip of Xander's beer. "Kenn, what have you slain this week?"

Kennedy didn't even need to think about it. "Four vampires spanning five days and one butt-ugly thing with a drippy face. I think it was a demon, if it wasn't, I did the guy a favour."

"There you go then. It'll be a piece of cake. Kennedy can show 'em the ropes and the girls can get some good 'ole fresh night air. It makes Slayer's grow big and strong. Well strong at least. You'll love it. Have fun." Buffy waved them off even though none of them except Kennedy had headed for the door.

"You're not coming?"Asked Cici, not looking to happy with the idea.

Buffy allowed herself a second to bask in the glow of hero worship before reining it in. "You'll be fine with Kennedy. I want to stay and find our disappearing demons." She smiled at the girls as they filed out one after the other.

* * *

"Miss Faith, please stand up."

Faith jumped at the sound of the Judge's voice. It had been a long day. Even the bumpy and hard bunk in her cell was looking inviting. She stood up and faced the man behind the big desk.

"Miss, you were sentenced to life imprisonment due to the nature of your crimes. The death of Mr Finch, accidental or otherwise aside, you have already admitted to killing another man simply at the request of your employer. Obviously this can not go un-punished."

Faith's eyes and shoulders dropped.

"Do you have anything you wish to say?" The Judge asked, not unkindly.

Faith peered up at him again through her lashes. "Just that I'm sorry, and I know that doesn't make up for anything, but I am. I can't believe I did the things I did and I know that just because I was doing it 'cause the boss told me to doesn't make it any less my fault. Make me any less to blame for ruining those lives. If you think I should be locked up for the next twenty-five years and however many years you wanna toss on top for me skipping out, then that's not even half the sh…excuse me, it's nowhere near what I deserve." Faith's voice petered out, her throat feeling scratchy and raw, but she held the Judge's gaze until he spoke again.

"Well, it's just as well you feel like that, Faith, because if you had been harbouring any hopes of going home tonight, they would have been sorely dashed." Faith's gaze dropped to the floor again. "The appeal process can be long and arduous and there is no guarantee you will be successful."

Faith could hear whispering around her but was feeling too dejected to take any notice.

The Judge continued. "Mr Gunn, if you can indeed prove that Mayor Wilkins was responsible for all the crimes your client was convicted of, and, beyond reasonable doubt, that the death of Allan Finch was an accident, then she may have a shot at being out before Christmas."

Faith's head shot up at that, and she looked from the Judge to Gunn and back again. "Huh?"

"Even with Wolfram and Hart behind you, I think you may find this one Hell of a challenge. I set the appeal date for four weeks from today." He turned back to Faith. "Don't make me regret it. Dismissed." He stood and left the room.

In the background Giles and Angel stood up, all smiles. They went to hug and then realising what they were doing, they stopped, feeling self-conscious for a moment before grinning again and shaking hands.

Faith was still gaping at Gunn. "Huh?"

* * *

Willow frowned over her test tubes. "Well that's strange!"

"What's the strange?" Buffy yawned widely.

Xander sat back down at the table with a fresh beer. "And is it good strange or bad strange? 'Cause if it's bad strange can we pretend you haven't figure it out until morning."

Willow looked up at her friends. "It's human. The blood, it's human. There are a few cellular differences, but it's definitely more human than demon."

"But the blood was fresh, the freshest of the fresh and none of us were hurt. Despite Dawn's best efforts."

Dawn stopped rubbing her arm and scowled at her sister. Buffy smiled back at her. "Damn mosquitoes!" Dawn started scratching at her other arm.

"From what I can tell, it's like a different species of human, not species…um…more like a different sub-section of the human species. Does that make sense?" Willow tried to explain.

"None what-so-ever. How does that work?" Xander used the neck of his beer bottle to scratch under his chin.

Willow shrugged. "Like donkeys and asses, I guess."

"Yeah well they're making asses out of us alright." Buffy smiled grimly.

"Are they like apes?" Andrew scratched the back of his neck as he thought through his theory. "They're nearly human."

Xander scraped his chair back across the flagstones. "Do we have any bug cream? We all got eaten alive playing Dr. Livingston earlier." He carried his beer over to the first aid cupboard and set it down on the counter above it. Bending to his knees he searched through the medical equipment for something to take the bite out of his bites.

"I know how you feel." Willow's butt was still a little sore.

"Andrew we can't have apes living in the wood shed, you idiot. We'd have noticed them by now." Said Buffy.

"How? You can't even see the wood shed from your bedroom." Dawn sniped.

"Whatever." Buffy said amiably. She put her arms behind her head and stretched and boy, did that feel good. She held the position for a while, twisting her neck back and forth to work out all the kinks. A movement caught her eye and she snapped her head around making it click, but there was nothing there. "God, I'm so tired I'm seeing things."

Xander straightened up, having found no cream, and reached to pick up his beer. His hand came back to him empty. "Buff, if you want a beer you can have a whole bottle to yourself, you don't have to keep drinking mine." They had picked up the groceries on the way back from the creepy mansion. The car was still stuck the other end of the lane though.

"I don't want anymore, thanks, or I'll fall asleep right here."

Xander looked confused. That had been a full bottle, give or take a sip, if Buffy hadn't…aha, he clicked his fingers. "Okay Will, de-spell my drink. Come on, bring my beer back." He held his hand out expectantly.

"I haven't touched your beer Xander. Obviously your observation brain cells are inebriated or else you'd have noticed that while you are working on getting drunk, I have been working on our work!"

"Well where is it then?" Xander asked exasperated. "If you don't magick it back I'll just go grab myself another one."

"Be my guest." Willow waved her hand and the refrigerator door swung open.

"Willow that's cold." Grumbled Buffy, who was sat the closest to it. She leaned back in her chair to push the door closed again. She heard something that made her stop half-way. "Did anyone hear that?"

"Here what?" Asked Dawn looking around.

Clink – scrape.

"That. That noise." Buffy was looking around too.

Clink – chink – scrape – clink.

"I hear it." Xander followed the direction the noise was coming from; when he neared the back door he stopped and stared. At floor level, between the door and the wall, was a baseball sized hole. It was another thing on his 'Things to fix' list that he hadn't even looked at yet. Now he stared at it.

"What is it Xander? What's there?" Asked Buffy, straining her neck upwards to peer at the floor. She was too tired to stand with no good reason.

"My beer…It's my beer." Xander exclaimed as he watched the brown glass bottle disappear through the hole with a final through clinks. "It's running away."

"Okay no more beer for Xander." Buffy started laughing but it died on her when Xander wrenched open the back door and ran out into the night.

"Always said alcohol was for losers, but no one listens to me." Dawn's eyes were closed in ecstasy as she used a fork to scratch the elusive itch in the middle of her back. When she opened them again it was just in time to see Andrew disappearing out of the door after Willow and Buffy. "See what I mean?" She asked the empty kitchen before she followed.

* * *

Buffy caught up with Xander at the door to the wood shed. "What is it?" She asked again.

Xander was still trying to catch his breath after his mad dash. "In there…my beer went in there." He panted, pointing at the closed door.

Buffy looked at him like he was a couple of tea-leaves short of a tea bag and he gave her his 'I'm serious' look, gesturing at the door, still too out of breath to bother speaking.

Buffy's brow scrunched and she put her ear to the worn wood of the door.

…….."Brik tha cus my clan hath cast….Brik et noo an' brik et faus…Gut ee back…tha baistis a'goen…"

"I don't believe this, they're chanting again. What are they gonna set on us next, the house bricks." Buffy muttered angrily.

Everyone cast anxious looks back at the house except Willow who tugged on Buffy's sleeve.

"I don't think they want to hurt us."

"Yeah well tell that to your butt and my whole body." Buffy responded, pulling herself up to her full height of five foot three. "Whatever they want, they're gonna get a taste of Buffy the Vampi…Buffy the…Just Buffy."

"That's not particularly threatening." Andrew pointed out.

Buffy glared at him and he shrank away. "Get ready with your light thingie Will, as soon as I open the door. Let's see what twisted arm of the human race we're dealing with."

She pulled her leg back and kicked the door down. It hit the floor in a cloud of dust.

Buffy and Willow both ran over it, Willow clapping her hands as she did so. The light shot from between her palm and reached the roof at the same instant Buffy shouted "Freeze."

A dozen purple blobs stopped mid-scatter and turned to face them.

"Wow, who woulda thought that would work." Buffy gazed around in surprise. "I only said it 'cause I thought it would sound cool."

"That it did Buffy." Xander strolled over the felled door behind them. Looking around his gaze settled on the little fire they'd already put out once and the purple being behind it. "Whatcha cooking?" He sniffed the air. "Something evil?"

The thing behind the fire stood. It was bigger and fatter than the others, but still stood no more than eight inches high. It was humanoid, a female humanoid judging by the arrangement of its ragged dress.

"Come no closer. Stand where ee are and no more harm shall come to ee." She spoke in English but her accent was think and unfamiliar to the gang.

"Yeah, see that's not the way I envisioned this going." Buffy admitted. "I saw it more as a 'You don't move and I'll make your death less painful"."

"Girl you don't know what you are talking about." The purple being told her ominously.

"Really? Let's see." Buffy took a side step and kicked out at the nearest demon that wasn't a demon.

Before her foot could connect it jumped high in the air and landed on her foot. It scurried up her leg and climbed the rest of her body by grabbing handfuls of her t-shirt. She tried to shake it off and smack at her chest to dislodge it, but it was too fast and before she could get it off it was eye to very little eye with her and she found herself looking at a tiny little person face.

"I eent skeered ofa skallcock lik yaw." And it head butted her right between the eyes.

She staggered back dazed and it took the opportunity to jump off and scurry to its friends. That's when all the flora in Hell broke loose, or so it seemed.

The walls splintered and Rose stems burst through. The heads tattered and hanging off. They snaked and entwined around each other creating new walls of sharp thorns. Buffy started backing everyone out of the door, but a stinging prick made her stop and look behind. The roses had already covered the doorway, leaving no chinks that she could see in its armour. "Damn!" She was acutely aware of a sudden hissing noise, looking down sharply she saw the source.

The previously inanimate strands of dry straw were rearing up and hissing like snakes all around them.

"It's okay, it's just straw. It can't bite." She called out.

A strand shot forward and struck her on the ankle. "Ouch!" The sharp end had broken the skin and a little trickle of blood began to dribble towards her shoes.

"I stand corrected."

"What are we going to do, Buffy?" Dawn asked in a high pitched voice. Dawn had never been fond of snakes.

'Good question' thought Buffy 'Which I don't have an answer for.'

"Uh, excuse me." Willow called over to the purple figure once again chanting behind the fire. It stopped its chant and looked up at her. Willow rallied under its penetrating indigo stare. "Uh, hi. I'm Willow and these are my friends." She waved her arm about to encompass Buffy, Xander, Dawn and Andrew. "Um, we're sorry for being so, uh, rude or whatever, but if you guys need any help we'll be glad to make it up to you. If you can make the straw-snakes go away that is, like, now…please."

The tiny woman regarded her closely without saying anything.

"Uh Willow." Buffy spoke behind her hand to her friend. "We don't generally help the bad guys. Its something we deliberately don't do!"

"Buffy, I can't work out the reversal spell, but they must know it and I'm pretty sure that's what they were trying to do before we disturbed them."

"But they're demon's Will, doing magick to attack us." Buffy tried to make her friend see reason.

The little lady raised her right arm. "Stuffle tha sturridge!"

The straw snakes dropped to the ground, inert again. Dawn and Andrew both let out sighs of relief.

"We arr not daemons, Giglet." She said.

"Well you're not people. You're purple - people aren't purple." Buffy said matter-of-factly.

"Sayst yow, yow unreamd tookened-patticks." Said another of the non-demons.

Buffy looked suitably insulted even though she hadn't understood a word.

"I think they're cute." Dawn dropped to her knees in front of one. "Hey little guy." It flipped her the bird with a sneer. "Oh see, how cute was that?" She smiled at it.

Xander spotted his beer bottle the other side of the shed, still in the clutches of one of the little purple guys. Casually wandering up to it, he plucked the bottle from its grasp with an audible pop. "Mine I believe." He eyed the bottle for a second, then nodded and took a swig.

"We nee'd thaat fur oor wunded." It told him.

Xander squinted down at it. "Buy your own." He said simply.

The chanting leader spoke again. "He said we need that for our wounded. Ogrek cut his head badly when you're runt through him into the wall."

"Hey who are you calling a runt." Barked Xander, it had been a very trying day.

"Him." She pointed at Andrew.

"Well that's okay then." Xander was mollified.

"Uh if Ogrek needs his cut cleaning, we've got proper stuff back at the house. You don't have to use stinky old beer." Willow offered.

"Oggie doesn't need to bathe his head, he wanted a brew to dull his headache, but thank ee girl." The leader explained.

Willow beamed. "You're welcome. We're sorry. We didn't mean to hurt you."

"We didn't?" Buffy was lost and had given up any hope of catching up.

Willow ignored her. "You're trying to break the curse aren't you?"

The leader nodded.

"Can I help?"

The purple leader lady smiled for the first time, revealing a set of brilliantly white teeth. She was beautiful when she smiled.

"Thank ee girl. If you'd like to help jus' keep yaw tribe from interfering. I caan do tha rest meself." She went to sit back behind the fire. "Timsaw."

Another of the little people walked towards her carrying two tiny fistfuls of powders. He threw them on the fire and the leader began to chant. The rest of the room stayed silent while they waited. Five minutes later she looked up.

"All done." She told them

Buffy looked sceptical. "Just like that?"

"Yas. Goen smell ah flower, girl."

Buffy looked suspicious, but stepped carefully to one of the walls. Gingerly she plucked a tattered rose from the tangled bush. It didn't attack. Even more carefully she lifted it to her nose and took a little sniff. She sneezed but nothing tried to rip her throat out. She nodded at the others. "So far so good."

"Well that's great." Said Xander. "The next thing is. How do we get out of here?" They all looked around at the thorny walls. There was no way to get out without at least one of them scratching themselves very badly. Buffy cursed herself for not picking up any weapons before she left the kitchen but she'd been more concerned with Xander.

The leader barked an instruction at Timsaw and he scampered off and disappeared. A few seconds later he came back carrying, with ease, a pair of secateurs at least twice his size. He handed them to Buffy.

"Theeer yow go, Just Buffy." The leader said with a smile.

* * *

Faith was back in her cell. It wasn't home anymore like it had been for three years, but it was better than a lot of places she'd slept.

She sat on her bunk with her back to the wall staring out of the tiny, barred window at the night sky, thinking.

Today had gone well. According to Gunn it couldn't have gone any better and that was good. There was still no guarantee that a new jury would see what she did any different to the last jury but it was a step in the right direction.

She gazed at the Polaroid stuck to the wall by her bunk. It was a step closer to Buffy, she hoped.

* * *

Dawn and Andrew had gone to their rooms and Xander was in front of the T.V. with a beer, his eyes drooping. It had been a long day for them all, or maybe the quiet period they'd enjoyed since closing the Sunnydale Hellmouth had made them all lazier.

Buffy and Willow were sat once again at the kitchen table, but this time they had a visitor.

The purple leader woman was sat in front of them on the table itself. She was sipping from a thimble Willow had carefully poured cocoa in, and telling them her story.

"Firstly I am Beryan, Mawther of the Crow-an-wragh tribe, and second I'm sorry, I am. I'm a chuckle-head, I know." She said in her thick accent. "We were worried we would lose our home, yow see. One hundred and three years we have lived here, and they've not all been easy. The Watcher men tried to turn us out. They had forgotten about the ageless pact between themselves and the Piskies. We used to work together for the benefit of the Human races but as time went on they paid that no mind. They saw us as Bal, as pests, they tried to eradicate us. They put down magical poison, believing us dundleheads. They took away our source of food; they tried to stop us sharing their shelter.

"The contracts signed long ago, they said they had been lost. That they were no longer valid, that they would not pander to the needs of daemons. I said this made them Scadgan – the worst. We are not daemons; our blood is as pure as theirs. Naw oor blood iss purer because we dedn't turn oor backs on oor fellow races as they did.

"Yeah so I get it. You've got no love for the Council. I totally know where you're coming from on that, but why attack us? We didn't do anything. We didn't even know you were here." Buffy blew on her cocoa before taking a sip.

"We thought you _were_ the Council. The past year, it has been peaceful. We didn't want a return to the dark days of living under the Watcher's regime of fear. I used to worry daily and nightly for the safety of my kith and kin. The grown learn to adapt to the hiding and whispering and the secret food missions, but it's the Bearn you have to think of. You can't keep them cooped up all day.

"So I decided a little scare would make them think twice about invading again. They were always so terrified of Vampires so I conjured one up. It was only supposed to scare you; no one was supposed to get hurt."

"But it wasn't a Vamp that came after us." Said Willow. "It was plants and stuff and straw turning into snakes and …stuff."

"Yas, I'm not sure what went wrong. It was supposed to incite the brethren of the last half life you took."

"But I haven't slain anything in weeks, unless you count…" Buffy stared off into space…

Buffy knelt up on her bed, the tears streaming down her face.

"Dawn, for the last time I don't want to listen to any of your crappy C.D's. Now get the Hell out of my room."

She chucked the offered C.D towards her sister and watched as it sliced the head clean off of Dawn's earlier cheer-up present. The cactus was in two halves, the C.D was embedded in the wall behind it. Dawn fled from the room crying. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

"Ooohhhh. I get it." Buffy smiled sheepishly. "But we're cool now right. The woodshed is yours forever if you want it but, I mean we had chicken for dinner, its brethren aren't going to rise up in the morning and peck our toes off are they."

The Piskie leader laughed. "No, we are …cool. There is no reason why my tribe and yours cannot live in harmony like before, but there is one thing. If you want the peace to continue you will take the woodshed and we will have the house, it is only fair."

"But…but…we can't…where would we…" Aghast, Buffy tried to figure out how the ten of them could all live in the woodshed.

The Piskie fell over onto its back, the thimble tinkling on the table as she dropped it, she was laughing hard. "Ha, ha, ha…You biggers are all dundle-heads."

* * *

The Piskie had gone home and now just Buffy and Willow sat at the kitchen table, nursing their second cups of cocoa and their various aches and pains.

They had been sat in a comfortable silence for a few minutes when Buffy decided she needed to talk. The offer had been made and she was ready to accept. She felt until she did, everyday would be like this. She couldn't move on until she learned to let Faith go and she needed help doing that.

She pulled a folded and crumpled piece of paper out of her pocket, smoothed it out on the table top and slid it across to Willow.

Willow looked at Buffy questioningly.

"It's from Faith; she left it the morning she, uh, left. I've been holding on to it, carrying it around like a comfort blanket, but it doesn't bring me any comfort. Read it, please. Tell me what you think."

Willow bent over the paper.

_Dear B,  
Sorry to leave you hanging this morning I wish I could be there when you woke up but I got things to do  
I don't want you thinking last night was just another screw cos it wasn't which is why I'm writing this you were amazing B I never had it so good  
I guess your wondering why I'm not there then well its simple I got things to do you can't be a part of that sorry but that's just the way it is maybe when I'm done sorting stuff out I'll be back but don't wait around cos in our line of work lifes to short.  
You might not believe it right now but I'm doing this for both our goods so don't bother wastin your time trying to find me cos I don't want to be found that said if you need my superior slaying skill (ha ha) I'll no I'll be back  
Anyway gotta go now take care of yourself B it was great catching up well everything  
Say bye to the scoobs for me  
Yours Faithfully_

Willow traced her finger along some of the crease lines before looking up at Buffy.

"So what do you think?" Her friend asked shyly.

"I think the girl needs to learn how to use a full stop."

"Willow." Buffy pleaded. She didn't know what she wanted her to say, just something to make her feel better.

Willow took Buffy's hands in her own. "I think Buffy that you have to do as she says. As you said earlier. You have to forget about her, move on with your life. We're in a whole new town, Hell a whole new state. We've all gotta put Sunnydale and everything connected with it into a little box and keep it somewhere safe. We shouldn't be carrying it around with us." Willow wasn't just talking about Buffy and Faith now.

"I get that, but Faith's not dead. She could come back at anytime. You read the letter; it says she'll be back one day. She says it meant something to her and I know she loves me. I can't put all that in a box."

"Buff, it says she might be back one day, not definitely. It seems to me that Faith was just trying to let you down gently with this letter. The operative words there being, letting you down."

"I don't know Will, maybe you're right, I just feel that there's something more too it. If that's all it was, why leave a letter. You know that's not Faith's style; there was something more on her mind when she wrote this. I just wish I knew what."

* * *

Giles trudged his way down the dark track. He cursed the cab driver for not driving him up to the house. The impertinent man had said there was too much foliage on the track and it might give him a flat tyre. As bad as British Rail, he decided, as twigs, sticks and sometimes entire branches crunched and snapped under his shoes. This was getting a little overgrown; he'd have to get Xander on it first thing.

He was walking across the lawn when his mobile phone began to ring. Blasted thing, he only kept it because he needed to be reachable twenty-four hours a day now that he was co-running the Council. He flipped it open and pressed a button, hoping it was the right one this time and he hadn't cut the caller off.

"Hello." He said. "Ah Angel, yes thank you for returning my call so late. I wondered if you had had a chance to speak to Mr Gunn yet about the matter we discussed." Giles walked slowly across the grass, there were a few lights on in the house and he didn't want to be overheard by anyone.

"Well its good she asks about her, hopefully it will keep her spirits up and make this next month less painful." He'd made his way around to the back of the house and was standing a few yards from the back door. The kitchen light was on, but he couldn't hear any voices. He kept his distance just in case.

"Yes I appreciate that Angel but you are not the one who has to watch her suffering another heartbreak, and she seems to be taking this one particularly hard….Yes worse than you." It started to rain heavily. "Damn!" He pulled his jacket over his head but it wasn't waterproof and was soon soaked through.

"I just think that if Faith would allow me to tell Buffy where she was then it would be better for the both of them. Faith needs all the support she can get and you know as well as I do that Buffy would give that unconditionally."

Giles cursed the rain under his breath; it was running down the inside of his glasses and getting in his eyes. He couldn't wipe it away for he had his bag in one hand and the phone in the other.

With a quick glance at the kitchen window to see if he could see anyone he ducked under the porch cover. Huddled there with his back to the rain he listened to what Angel had to say.

Giles answered in a whisper. "Yes I realise it is Faith's decision and I will not betray her confidence, but I personally feel that now a trial date has been set up there is no need to keep it a secret from Buffy any longer…"

* * *

Inside the kitchen Buffy sat with her head on Willow's shoulder, crying quietly. Willow stroked her hair and let her sob it out.

The blonde sat up sharply causing Willow to start.

"Did you hear that?" The Slayer asked her friend.

"No, no more hearing things." Willow begged.

"No I'm serious, there's someone outside." Buffy got up and tried to peer through the window but the rain was like a grey curtain across it.

"Maybe it's the Piskies. The shed was pretty torn up its probably leaking." Said Willow with a laugh.

"Let's find out." Buffy went to open the back door.

* * *

"No I promised Faith I would keep her whereabouts a secret until she said otherwise, but if you could please talk to her again when you visit. Buffy will want to be at that trial and if Faith doesn't let her…" Giles stopped talking into his phone and looked up at Buffy. "Oh dear."

Buffy gave him a look of confusion. He was talking about her and Faith. Who was he talking to and why? The look on her beloved Watcher's face showed quite plainly that he had been caught out at something. Something to do with Faith. She couldn't handle this right now. She turned and fled for the back stairs, taking them three at a time. She heard both Giles and Willow calling to her but she didn't stop until she was in her bedroom, Faith's letter held to her face stemming the flow of her tears.

Giles left in the kitchen with Willow removed his glasses and placed them on the table. He sighed wearily before speaking into the phone again.

"Angel – I'm afraid this conversation is no longer relevant. I will explain later. Goodbye."

Fade to black

...To Be Continued...


	2. Beneath the Moon

Disclaimer: Joss owns all the good characters

Thanks to everyone who gave feedback, I always really appreciate it. If anything seems confusing, can you let me know what bits so I can try and clarify it later. Also I thought long and hard about how the sequel to "No time to choose" should be written, and I chose the episodic format because I figured it would help me learn more about pace and timing by keeping to a teaser and four acts. I don't think I am learning anything, because each episode seems to be getting longer and longer which defeats the whole point, but I've started now and as I have all the eps pretty much planned I guess I should keep going. So I guess if any of you catch me losing the flow let me know where too, so I can give myself a slap. Anyway why are you all still listening to me yap on...

* * *

**Slayers 1.2 – Beneath the Moon**

Teaser

Kennedy walked along the road slightly ahead of the three younger girls. The night so far had been uneventful, and she was bored. The girl's had been chattering non-stop since they'd arrived in town and parked the truck. She had tried to actually teach them something, impart some of her adventures in Sunnydale, and show them what being a Slayer meant, just like Buffy had done for her and the others when they had come to her. However the girls seemed more interested in discussing Xander and Andrew and the world's number one Slayer. Kennedy sighed, none of them interested her. Now if they had been talking about Willow she could have happily forgone the hunt for beasties and bored for Ohio on the subject. Not that anything was boring about her Willow.

One of the girls screamed behind her and she spun around to the face the foe.

There was nothing there but the three girls. Miranda had her hand to her mouth, the other pointing into the shadows of a shop awning. Kennedy turned to look that way, her eyes adjusting to the gloom. She could see the pale green eyes staring back at her balefully, and if she strained she could make out a thin, whip like tail swirling in the air.

She barked out a laugh and squatted at the road side, holding out her hand palm up she made kissing noises. The big ginger tom cat came gracefully out of the shadows and made its way towards her hand.

"Here's your big bad…" Kennedy began until a rushing matt of grey and black pounced on the cat and disappeared up the road. The cat in its mouth. "What the…?" Kennedy never finished the sentence as another of the creatures landed on her, knocking her sideways to fall on the road.

"Get back." She shouted to the girls as she pulled her knees up under the beast and stopped it from getting a good grip on her.

One big paw swiped down, intending to rip her throat out, but she was just quick enough to lift one of her hands to block it. Her arm took the bash and its claws left thick red welts on her fore arm, but she still had a head so all was good. She used the same hand to grab a hold on its hairy head and pulled it backwards with all her Slayer strength. She wanted to get her legs around its neck and snap it, but they were still trapped under the weight of its body. Its mouth, full of sharp teeth and dripping saliva was trying to connect with her face, but her grip on its hair was keeping it at bay. That's all she was doing though. She couldn't find any leverage to get the thing off of her.

Alison had been huddling the other two girls into the shop doorway but now she saw that Kennedy was struggling, she ran back to help. The only weapon she had was a wooden stake. She'd never used one before to kill anything, but it wasn't difficult to figure out which end went in the monster. She held it in both hands and lifted her arms up high above her head. She debated with herself for a second where the heart was supposed to be, and then with a shake of her head plunged it hard into beast's back.

It yelped and went rigid on top of Kennedy for a second and Alison thought she had killed it, but before she could celebrate it twisted on top of the older Slayer and lashed out a paw that sent Alison flying through the air. Before Kennedy could take advantage of it's distraction it had leapt off of her and snarling, ran up the road after its buddy.

* * *

Faith looked at the slop in her bowl with disgust. It was supposed to be mashed potatoes and stew. Sure didn't look like it. She sighed, thinking about the huge cheeseburger she'd eaten the day before. Now that was food.

A shadow fell across her table, but she didn't bother looking up as she asked:

"What's up, Lol? Something I can help you with?"

Lolitta was two hundred and ten pound of tall, dark and scary. An Italian American with a fiery temper. As far as Faith knew she was inside for a mob hit that went wrong. Instead of killing the guy she'd been told to, she killed the guy she was doing the job with because he pissed her off while they waited. In the time before Faith had jumped ship, she and Lolitta had become, not friends but equals maybe. They were the only two women no one else in the place would mess with. A lot of the time Faith had despised the other woman but deep down she knew that they were pretty similar. They'd both had a rough go of it, both been brought up in a world which made you not give a damn about anyone but yourself. They had both been chosen for jobs either due to birthright or destiny that they could not walk away from. If Faith didn't have Angel and the rest on the outside rooting for her, she would probably be still as angry as Lolitta and taking it out on the population of Stockton Correctional Facility. Plus, before, she had been more fun to hang with than most of the retards in the place. Since she'd been back though the Slayer had been keeping her distance. She wanted to keep her nose clean and hanging with Lolitta would not make that easy.

"I was gonna ask you the same thing, Wilkins." Faith cringed at the name. That wasn't her anymore, but she kept quiet. "Word has it that you've been playing Governor's lap dog. You switching sides on us?"

Faith looked up. Lolitta was flanked by her two little lackeys. Not that they were small women, just Lol had a habit of making a tank look little.

* * *

Act One

Buffy pulled her wardrobe out of one of the boxes littering the floor and inspected it. There wasn't much. She hadn't been as enthusiastic as the others when it came to replacing their lost belongings. She picked a pair of cream cotton pants and a loose black sweater out of the pile and gave them a quick sniff. They were passable. Hesitating she swapped the pants for a pair of blue jeans that wouldn't crease so easily and shoved them in her new duffel bag.

She went to the bathroom for her toiletries, passing Dawn on the way, she was perched on the laundry basket outside her door.

"So do you know what you're going to say to her yet?" The young brunette asked.

Buffy had thought of little else all night, but she still hadn't come up with a final draft. Going back into her room with her tooth brush, she said. "I'm going to tell her she's an idiot."

Dawn scrunched her face up in thought. "But if she's such an idiot why are you bothering to go see her?"

"Because someone needs to point it out to her."

"Hello it's called a phone." Dawn held a phone made of fingers to her ear.

"You can't tell someone they're an idiot over the phone Dawn, it's rude. You have to say it in person, there are like …rules." Buffy looked around her room and decided to grab her walkman as well. It was a long flight to Los Angeles, which would go easier if she couldn't hear all the worrying little plane noises.

"Well just as long as you're not running all the way out there to make up with her or forgive her or let her off the hook for anything."

Buffy didn't answer.

"Buffy! She left you, remember. Disappeared without a trace. Left you miserable and alone."

"I know, but I have to see her so please just back off Dawn, okay?"

Dawn exhaled in frustration, but relented. "So you haven't forgotten about my enrolment meeting this morning, have you?"

Buffy paused for a second while she counted days in her mind before replying. "No of course not. My flights not until noon, we'll go this morning."

"Thanks. I would ask Willow, she'd probably make a better impression on the Principal anyway, but she's been in a bit of a state ever since Kennedy called last night." Dawn wished she didn't even have to enrol in another school. This would make three schools in three years.

Buffy nodded. "It's okay, I have time."

The phone started to ring downstairs. "Oh Dawn could you get that…and if it's Angel don't tell him I know. I don't want him hanging up until I get to shout at him."

* * *

"Okay Kenn, no I'll be here. I'm just glad you're okay….So can you tell me what happened, what was it? ...Oh yeah I guess, hospital corridor not really the place for an open discussion…And you're sure Ali is fine…" Dawn came careering into the kitchen and Willow held her hand up to keep the girl quiet. "…Well that's the main thing…Yep see you then – drive safely." Willow put the phone down and smiled at Dawn. "Everyone's okay. They're leaving Cleveland General now so they should be back in an hour."

"Cool." Said Dawn, buttering toast.

Giles, his glasses discarded on the kitchen table, rubbed at his forehead. "That is good news. Did Kennedy throw any light on what we're dealing with? Vampire? Demon?"

"Nope. It was a bit busy and she didn't want to scare the other patients. She just said they got jumped and Alison got knocked out."

"Well we'll learn more when they get back, I'm sure." He put his glasses back on. "How's Buffy this morning?" He asked Dawn.

Dawn chuckled. "Well you and Angel are tying first place for public enemy number one." Giles winced. "I think Faith's number one and a half. I don't know whether Buffy is gonna hit her when she's sees her, or kiss her, but either way I think it will be unpleasant and painful to watch." Giles coughed and Willow smirked. "She is taking me for enrolment though before she catches her flight."

"That's good. This Faith thing can't be upsetting her too much if she's still thinking about you're education first." Willow said positively.

"I had to remind her."

"But still."

Buffy came down the back stairs into the kitchen. "Dawn – scoot, go get ready. We have to leave now. If this makes me late I'll have to leave you at the school and go catch my plane from there."

Dawn looked horrified. "But the school is like ten miles away."

"So hurry up then." Buffy started pouring herself some cereal.

Dawn stomped up the stairs, muttering "Yeah she cares about my education, but doesn't give a flying Rathcalek demon about me."

Buffy shook her head at Dawn's muttered grumbles and rolled her eyes at Willow.

Willow beamed at Buffy. "Kennedy just phoned, she said everything's fine and they're on their way home."

Buffy didn't look up from the cereal she was pushing around her bowl. "That's good."

"Well the rest of us thought so." Willow was obviously annoyed that Buffy didn't seem to care about the health of her girlfriend and the new Slayers.

Buffy recognised the tone of voice and looked up sharply. "Sorry Wills, it is good and I'm glad their okay. I've just got a lot on my mind."

Giles cleared his throat. "Buffy, I know I said this last night, in fact I spent most of last night saying it, but do you really think it's a good idea to go and see Faith, after she expressly asked that you didn't find out where she was staying."

Buffy scraped her chair back loudly and took her bowl to the sink, where she let it clatter into the bottom. "Giles, I'm going."

"But in the mood you're in you may just make matters worse." The Watcher tried to reason.

"I wouldn't be in any mood about it if someone had bothered to tell me where she was."

"Buffy, Angel and I…"

"Angel and you what?" Buffy cut him off. "Decided to go behind my back and keep secrets from me. Important secrets that affect my life, my happiness. Why do you two always do that?"

"Buffy we didn't do any of that to you. We did it for Faith…"

"Yeah and I expect Angel to take her side now their such bosom buddies but you…I thought you were on my side."

"Buffy." Willow said softly.

Giles looked pained; he rubbed his forehead again and took a sip from his teacup. "I thought I was doing the right thing, and I still believe that, but I, I'm sorry I hurt you in the process."

Buffy sighed. "I know Giles. It's just that, I've been going crazy the past two months and that all could have been avoided, but…but I'm glad she felt she could trust you and I'm glad you helped her." Buffy looked back at Willow. "Tell Dawn I'll be out in the car and if she takes any longer I'll just go and enrol myself instead of her." She turned and went out the back door.

* * *

Faith pulled the rack out of the mechanical wringer and reached in for the sheet. Before she could lean back up someone or something had grabbed the back of her neck. She tried to force her head back up, but the something pushed forward and laid its body weight against her back, keeping her in the awkward position.

She let herself go limp and just hang over the metal railing, waiting for her chance.

"That's it Wilkins, play like a good girl and we won't have to hurt you."

'Oh for Christ's sake' thought Faith, 'how did they even get down here?' It was Lolitta and most likely her two henchwomen as well. Only the women working the laundry should have been able to get into the hot, steam-filled room. Lol was obviously working someone for favours.

"What do you want, Lol?" Faith tried to keep her voice light and friendly, because she was hardly in a position to pick a fight.

"The truth. We hear you've got an appeal coming up. How'd you get an appeal, Wilkins, with you're track record. Something ain't right. Either you're sleeping with the Governor, or you're telling tales to him. Nothing else would make him give a rat's ass whether you rotted in this place."

Faith sneered but it was hidden in the rack. "My lawyer found new evidence, that's all it is. The Governor can't keep me in here if I ain't supposed to be."

"Aww and you expect us to believe you're all sweet and innocent and you didn't kill anyone." Lolitta mocked her.

"I never said I didn't kill no one. What's this about anyhow? What's it got to do with you whether I'm in here or not?"

Lolitta dragged Faith up by the back of the neck and slammed her against the driers behind her. Faith could have stopped herself from being thrown anywhere, but let her momentum carry her backwards to where Lolitta wanted her.

Lolitta leaned close to her, and Faith's nose wrinkled from the smell of the woman's breath. "I don't care if you're in here, in fact I wish you're ugly ass was outta here for good, and I don't mean through the gates. However I suddenly thought that you and me used to hang a fair bit before you disappeared and I don't want you getting any ideas about using stories about me as you're 'Get out of jail free' card. You got it?"

Faith let them see her sneer this time. "Lol, everyone in here knows how dirty you are. Any shit going down in this place and you've got a finger in it. The screws don't need me to tell them that. You just got a problem 'cause I'm so much prettier than you're ugly, skanky-assed self, but you don't wanna admit that in front of Igor and Quasimodo, other there." She shut her eyes when the first swing came at her face, that one stung, catching her squarely on the nose, but the others she hardly felt at all.

* * *

Buffy pulled the car up outside the school's admin office. It had only taken them twenty minutes to get there and Buffy had relaxed a bit on the drive. She opened her door and climbed out. Dawn got out the passenger side.

"Have you got everything you need?" The blonde asked.

Dawn was nervous. "Uh, I think so. What exactly do I need?"

Buffy moaned in exasperation. "I don't know…Transcripts, books, a pencil."

"Uh Buffy, you do know this is just an enrolment thing don't you. I don't actually start classes until next week. I don't need any of that stuff and besides transcripts get sent by the school board, don't you remember?"

"Well it never hurts to be prepared." Buffy answered distractedly, looking for the way in. Spotting the doors she headed for them. A moment of clarity struck her over heated mind. "Ooh I know, have you got that letter of recommendation Robin sent you."

"Yep." Dawn pulled it out of her pocket and waved it around. "It arrived a few days ago. It was nice of him to send it all the way from New York. I'm kind of going to miss having him as Principal."

"Really?" Buffy was amused, she'd never realised Dawn had a crush on the freelance demon-fighter.

Dawn carried on oblivious to her sister's speculation. "Yeah, it was cool having someone who knew about the nasties. You tell any other teacher you've seen a Ghost Zombie…"

"Vengeful Manifest Spirits."

"Yeah them, and they either give you detention for smoking drugs in school time, or they send you to some hokey guidance counsellor…"

"Hey!"

"…For six months of heavy therapy."

"Yeah well this school isn't directly on top of a Hellmouth so you should be okay here." Buffy straightened her skirt and top before knocking on the door to the Principal's suite.

"You're right; it's at least half a mile from here. Everything should be fine." Dawn responded sarcastically before following her sister through the door.

A man with blonde hair watched them go through the door from the end of the hall. He studied them from the distance and for a second it looked like his nose twitched and his nostrils flared, but then he shrugged and walked back to the music room.

* * *

Willow and Giles were still sat at the kitchen table when Xander came down the back stairs into the kitchen, clutching his head with one hand and scratching at his chest with the other.

He stopped at the foot of the stairs. "Has the yelling stopped? Because if the yelling hasn't stopped then I'm going back to bed."

"The yelling has stopped, Xander. The loud lady has taken Dawn to enrol." Said Willow. "What's wrong?"

Xander slumped down at the table with his hands in the same position, one to his head and one to chest. "My head feels like I'm inside it trying to hammer nails into my skull."

"Well that's what happens when you drink that much beer." Willow told him, totally unsympathetic.

"But I only drank so much to try and make me forget about the itching – look." He pulled his pyjama shirt open to reveal a rash all across his chest accompanied by red scratch marks. He took the shirt right off and Willow and Giles could see it went all down his arms and back too. "I thought it was just mosquito bites but it got worse and worse. Willow, tell it to me straight, am I dying?"

Giles leaned back in his chair as far away from Xander as he could. "What is it? It looks awful. You should be quarantined or something until we can figure it out."

Xander perked up enough to play his favourite game of tease the G-man. "Aww come on Giles, where's the love? Gimme a hug." He opened his arms wide and leant across the table towards the ex-librarian.

Giles nearly fell out of his chair trying to get away.

"Pack it in you guys. Xander, it's just Poison Ivy. You must have brushed against some yesterday. You had it when you were younger, remember." Willow explained his problem, smiling.

"Oh yeah." He said sheepishly, and then scowled when Willow smacked his hand away from scratching his arm. "It feels worse now, though, I don't know…itchier."

Willow got up from the table. "That's because you're a man now and less able to deal with being ill than when you were a little bitty boy. Now just don't scratch and I can mix you up an ointment to clear it up."

"That was a dig. I know a dig and that was one." Xander looked from Willow to Giles. "That was definitely a dig."

"It was dug with love." She promised him.

Giles merely winced with distaste. "Put your shirt on and for heavens sake, don't come near me."

"It's okay Giles it's not contagious." Willow assured him. "I'd have thought you would have known that."

"Ha ha, something the G-man didn't know and I did. Well who's man of the house now then, huh?" Xander laughed.

"I am. You're the man who is living here rent free because you are supposed to be fixing it up, strange - I don't see any fixing so maybe I should start seeing some rent." Giles stood with his cup. "And anyway we don't have you're stupid American plants in England. We have proper plants that know their place. I'll take the rest of my tea on the veranda." He walked out the back door.

"What's his beef?" Xander asked, frowning at the outburst.

"Buffy stuff, Slayer stuff. While you were sleeping the sleep of the recently beered up the rest of us had a busy night." Willow shrugged, downplaying the tears and tantrums from Buffy when Giles revealed Faith's whereabouts to her and her own panic over Cici's call from the hospital saying both Kennedy and Alison were being treated for serious damage.

"I'm sorry I wasn't around to help." Xander told her sincerely.

Willow gave him a smile. "I wish you had been too, but there wasn't really anything you could have done. Go on upstairs back to bed and I'll bring this up when it's done." She shooed him from his seat and to the stairs.

"Thanks Will." He gave her a kiss on the top of her head before ascending. "Oh, you better make a triple dose, 'cause Andy's suffering too and he's moaning way more than I am."

Willow smiled at his retreating back and went back to her potion.

* * *

Marvin and Hank Arcane loved their little cabin in the woods. It was quiet and secluded, a couple of miles from Boudenver and completely off the beaten track. It suited them fine.

They hadn't always lived in Ohio. They were born and raised in New York City, but a few years back there had been some trouble and Hank had got the blame. Marvin loved his little brother and didn't want to see him in any more trouble with the cops so he'd moved the both of them, the last Arcane's in the family, to their cosy little cabin and they were happy with their lot in life.

The day was warm, even by summer's standards, and they were both outside, sans shirts, soaking up the sunshine. Marvin was chopping wood for the fire. No matter what time of year it was, the night always brought a chill to the air and a fire made it homely anyhow. He was on his last log when he called to his brother.

Hank had been sunning himself on a lawn chair and he was nearly asleep. His brother's call startled him awake.

"What?" He grumbled, sleepily.

"Go fetch me those logs. You sleep in front of the fire, the least you can do is help me make it." Marvin pointed the axe head towards a haphazard wood pile against the cabin's side.

"Naw. I'm tired. Get them yourself." Hank sank back down into the chair and closed his eyes again.

"A lad of you're age shouldn't be so lazy, just 'cause a one sleepless night." Marv grumbled, but still he went to fetch a few more logs himself.

The twenty two year old opened one eye to look at his older brother. "It's the howling, it makes me jittery, like all the hairs are standing up on the back of my neck."

Marvin nodded in understanding, as he set up the next block to cut.

Hank rubbed his stomach and burped. "An' I think I ate somethin' that didn' agree with me."

"Naw, you just gotta learn to chew your food." Marvin laughed at Hank, he was twelve years his senior and had pretty much raised him since they're parents had been killed in a tragic hunting accident. "Okay get some sleep. We're going out to the McGee's tonight and I want you fresh."

Hank nodded and drifted back off to sleep. Marvin looked up at the sky, judging the time by the sun's position. Estimating they had about nine hours left of daylight he carried on chopping.

* * *

Willow was putting the finishing touches to the medicine for Xander and Andrew in the kitchen. Her computer room was already fully furnished but it would take a while before she was able to get a Laboratory/Magic room set up. She looked up with a smile when she heard a familiar voice call:

"Hi Honey I'm home."

Kennedy strolled through the door, with the three tired Newbies behind her. Alison's blonde hair was matted at the back with dried blood and a wad of gauze had been fastened to her head with tape. Giles brought up the rear, eager to concentrate on work related issues for a while and leave the emotional ones alone.

Willow left her preparation and came over to give her girlfriend a kiss and a hug hello. "Are you okay? What happened?" She turned to look at Alison. "Are you okay? Ouch, does it hurt?"

Alison shrugged. "Not as much as it did last night."

Kennedy grinned. "Yeah, Slayer healing is almost worth getting hurt for." She lifted her arm for inspection. Faint red lines marred her otherwise perfect olive skin. "See. Last night they were deep red lacerations, according to the doctors anyways, now they're just itsy bitsy scratches. It's pretty cool."

"Kennedy, what scratched you , can you give us a description?" Giles asked.

Kennedy fell into a chair and leaned back yawning. "Big, hairy, breath like an evil sausage factory, claws like Freddy. To be honest I only really saw the inside of the things throat clearly. It had a lot of teeth."

Willow's hand covered the tiny 'O' her mouth had formed. She looked worriedly at Giles, unable to voice her fears.

He did it for her. "A Werewolf."

Kennedy nodded. "Never seen one before but if I had to make a guess that's what I'd guess. Except its werewolves. It's a pity Buffy couldn't be bothered to come out last night, she would have known for sure. I mean you guys have dealt with them, right. Sunnydale must have experienced Werewolves."

"Er…yes, um yes we did, once or twice." Giles looked at Willow puzzled. Kennedy seemed very vague on the subject but surely anyone spending any amount of time with the redhead would know who Sunnydale's resident wolf had been.

Willow wasn't looking back at him; she was too busy looking at Kennedy, a look of abject horror on her face. She fell to her knees in front of the brunette and clasped the younger girl's hands holding them out to the sides while she looked her lover over.

"You didn't get bit, did you? Oh Goddess tell me that thing didn't bite you." She panicked.

Act Two

Kennedy pulled away from her girlfriend just slightly. "Huh?" She asked an unsure smile on her face.

"Did it bite you? Did you get bitten…anywhere….did it break you're skin with its teeth." Willow had begun patting her girlfriend's torso looking for tears in her jumper that may have been made by fangs.

"No Willow, it didn't bite me I promise." Kennedy grabbed hold of Willow's hands and held them in her lap. "It just got me with its claws. Ali staked it in the back before it could do any real damage. Then it ran after its buddy."

"Oh thank you." Willow fell into her arms and hugged her tightly.

"It was nothing." Kennedy grinned and hugged her back. Her Willow was a strange chick sometimes but she wouldn't have her any other way.

Alison, Cici and Miranda were still standing at the back of the kitchen listening to this and wondering what crazy world they had found themselves in.

"I didn't get bit either." Alison told them.

Giles smiled at her. "That's good, and well done on scaring the beast off. That was very brave of you. Now why don't you all go and get some sleep. I know from plenty of experience just how uncomfortable Hospital waiting rooms can be."

They all began to file up the stairs to the big bedroom they shared. Cici stopped next to Willow. "Can we still go to the hairdressers later?" She asked shyly, running a hand through her messy, clipped locks.

Willow smiled again now her personal crisis was over. "Yes, of course we can. I have to go out to the airport later, we can try and find one then."

Kennedy pulled away from snuggling into Willow's neck, something Giles was trying to pretend he hadn't noticed, and asked: "Airport? Are you going somewhere?

* * *

Buffy nervously fiddled with a pencil on the desk in front of her. 'I've worked in one of these places now.' She thought. 'So why does sitting here in front of the Principal's desk still make me feel like I'm sixteen again and trying to convince Mr. Flutie I won't burn down the gym.' The silence was getting to her so she decided to break it.

"Dawn's a very good student, much better than I ever was. Not that I was a dummy, you should have seen my S.A.T. scores, mom couldn't believe them"… 'Okay should have just put up with the silence.' …"Dawn has always been the brain in the family though; I think she takes after Willow. Is it possible, do you think, to take after someone you're not related to? I guess it is if you spend a lot of time with them right, and Dawn's spends a lot of time with Willow and Willow's a straight A student, no she's more, she's a straight A-plus-gold star student and Dawn…"

She sucked in a much needed lungful of air as the grey-haired, broad-shouldered, twinkly eyed Principal, introduced as Principal Hayes, held up his hand and instructed "Ms Summers – breathe."

In his other hand he held the letter Robin Wood had sent from New York. He finished reading it quickly before smiling at the blonde.

"You can relax Ms Summers. Dawn has already been guaranteed a place here at McKinley high. Her grades in the past have been a little inconsistent but I believe we can put that down to the unsettling circumstances she has been through. One thing they do show me is that's she capable of great work and that's potential we can build on here at McKinley's."

Buffy smiled. "Thanks, she is a great kid and it's not been easy for her. We…uh…lost our mother a few years ago and so she's had to rely on me and my friends for her parenting and then with the thing…that happened. Having to up and leave her home and her own friends and start all over again. Well it hasn't been easy for any of us." Buffy went quiet for a second and looked back down at the pencil. Principal Hayes stayed quiet and waited for her to continue. "I just want her to spend the next two years doing high school stuff and not having to worry about losing her home to malicious holes in the ground."

Principal Hayes busied himself putting the letter away in a folder and placing it in his desk. When he was done he rested his elbows on the top and steepled his fingers. Smiling kindly he said. "Yes, we heard about the terrible trouble you had out west. It must have been awful."

Buffy frowned, confused. 'There's a Hellmouth Newsletter doing the rounds' she thought, 'huh, why aren't I surprised.'

The Principal tried to decipher the look she was giving him. It looked more like she was trying to subtract four hundred and thirty seven from nine thousand six hundred and twenty four and a half, using only her toes. Not the look of someone who had just survived a terrible tragedy.

"The earthquake." He clarified. "It must have been terrible for all of you. Losing you're homes and belongings, like that. It was all over the national news for weeks. The rumblings didn't reach us up here, but from what I've heard the shock waves were felt all over California and the surrounding states. It's a wonder anyone survived at all."

Buffy chuckled. 'Newspapers, T.V. of course.' She'd seen the reports herself, just hadn't wondered what the rest of the world would make of them. She realised that chuckling after a statement like that wasn't really appropriate. "Yeah… yes it was terrible. I must have repressed it for a minute there. One second there's you're town and the next kaboom!"

"Kaboom?"

"Total kaboom…So this school, it's a good school, right? I mean of course it's a good school, you wouldn't be Principal of a bad school would you. So what's the death count like?"

* * *

Dawn sat in a chair in the secretary's office, kicking at the floor. Buffy was in talking with the Principal and the secretary was elsewhere and she was bored. They'd been in there talking about her for thirty minutes already and she didn't know why she couldn't go in and join them. Surely if she was the topic of conversation she should be able to at least participate in it. After all she was practically an adult herself, she'd be seventeen soon enough.

She was startled from her thoughts when the outside door opened. Looking to see who it was, her eyes were pleasantly surprised by the sleek, dark haired boy that strolled confidently in.

'Sleek' she thought. 'That's an unusual word to describe someone with.'

He stopped in the doorway and stared at her.

"Er..Hello." She said. The way he was looking at her was making her blush. Luckily she couldn't see a letterman jacket and he was cute, so staring was good right. It was definitely more promising than running away screaming.

"Hi." He flashed a brief smile before making his way past and sitting down on the furthest chair away. With another fleeting smile he said: "Cold." By way of explanation and patted the heater next to him. Then he turned to stare at the wall.

'Ookay' thought Dawn, 'it's like seventy degrees out there.' She looked out of the window at the bright blue sky and then back at him. He was still looking at the wall like he was expecting it to do something other than stand there. Still, he was the first kid she'd met since moving to Boudenver and someone that good looking had to be popular, right? It couldn't hurt to make friends.

"Uh…I'm Dawn." She began nervously. "I'm new here."

He turned to face her slowly, blinked his green eyes and then turned back to the wall. "Sethos." He pulled a face. "Me too."

"That's an unusual name."

The boy shrugged.

Dawn tried again. "So which class will you be in?"

"Junior." His accent wasn't quite American, although it seemed to try and be, with hints of spice and exotic places Dawn would probably never get to. She loved it.

"Ooh me too. I'm glad I met someone before school starts. This way I won't look like a total spaz not knowing anyone and neither will you."

Sethos nodded but didn't take his eyes off the wall. Undeterred Dawn kept on.

"So where are you from?"

The boy ran a lazy hand through his short black hair and sighed.

* * *

Principal Hayes recovered from his coughing fit with the help of a glass of water fetched from the side by Buffy.

"No…no, of course you are going to be concerned for you're sister's safety." He spluttered. "I can assure you we've not lost a single student, on school grounds, since I've been in charge here." 'What a strange girl,' he thought, 'one minute sweet and bubbly and the next asking when they last had a case spontaneous combustion. It must be all she's been through.' He thought sadly, making a note in his diary to send the younger Summers sister to the guidance counsellor the first day of term.

"Well that's good." Buffy was saying, still patting him rather harder on the back than he deemed necessary. "It was silly of me to ask, but you know kid these days. Always bumping into things, and catching things and falling over and … things."

"Ms Summers, you're sister is sixteen, isn't she?"

"Uh huh." Buffy went to sit back down when she realised the Principal's face had returned to its normal colour.

"Well then, she should be fine – we don't get many sixteen year old girls falling off the jungle-gym."

Buffy blushed. "Well that's good." She repeated.

* * *

"It must have been so cool living in Egypt." Dawn gushed, thinking of Sunnydale and now Boudenver. The only exciting thing in either was the Evil and she could live without that sort of excitement.

"Was okay." Sethos was slumped even further down in his chair with his feet propped up on the rectangular wall heater. He was still faced away from Dawn, she was trying to hang on to the thought that he was just shy but she was starting to suspect it was more than that.

"So did you live near the pyramids?"

"Yep."

"What were they like?"

"Big, old and dusty."

Dawn frowned. "Dusty. Oh I get it because of the desert right?"

Sethos deigned to look her way as he said. "No, because dead people don't care much for spring cleaning."

Dawn burst out laughing at the joke, it sounded loud in the other wise pin dropping quiet of the office. Sethos turned back to the wall without smiling.

Dawn stopped laughing as suddenly as she started, embarrassed and a little intimidated by the strange youth, and that annoyed her. She'd faced Hell-Gods and Uber-vamps and the purest evil in the whole world, and one gorgeous guy thinking she was an idiot still had more potential to make her quake in her boots.

She stared down at said boots ready to accept this boy was not interested in being friends with her, so when he spoke next in his slow drawl she jumped.

"So you're from Sunnydale?"

"Yeah." She said cautiously. There were so many different stories going around about her home town she was never sure what she might hear next. "How did you know? I didn't say."

He shrugged. "My father knows things."

It wasn't much of an explanation but it was all she was going to get because the door opened to the Principal's office and he and Buffy came out.

Principal Hayes turned to Sethos first. "Ah, you must be Seth. I won't keep you a moment." He looked around surprised. "Didn't you're parents come with you?"

"No." Sethos didn't bother to look at the Principal.

The Principal looked apologetically at Buffy and then turned to Dawn with his hand out. She stood and they shook hands.

"Well Dawn, it was nice to meet you and I'm pleased to say that you'll be joining us on Monday morning. If you could come here before school starts then we'll have a little chat about classes and there will be a few tests you'll have to do so we know what standard you're up too. You're old Principal, Mr Wood has provided an excellent reference for you but unfortunately you were forced to leave before you could take you're end of year exams. However we don't want to see someone as bright as you kept back a year if we don't need to, hence the tests." He smiled enthusiastically at her and she smiled back, pleased despite the threat of tests.

To Buffy he said. "I'd like you to come and see me after Dawn's sixth week if that's possible. Just to discuss how she is doing and to make sure we're all happy."

"Yeah, sure, whatever you need. We've got to go now, sorry." Buffy had just seen the time on the clock behind the secretary's desk. "Dawn, come on." She practically dragged her younger sister out to the car by her arm.

"See you on Monday." Dawn called back to Sethos but he just ignored her.

* * *

Faith sat on her bunk in her cell still a little dazed. She'd blacked out sometime during her beating and was surprised she'd come to again, that week at least. Lolitta didn't normally have such self-control. Faith assumed they must have been interrupted. No one had found her prone body though. She had still been on the floor between the wringer and the drier when she awoke.

She had managed to get back to her cell with the minimal of fuss. The bruises had already blossomed and begun to fade while she was having her induced nap. She still looked plenty banged up but not like she'd gone ten rounds with Tyson anymore.

She leaned over, mindful of some pain in her ribs, and plucked the Polaroid of the Scoobies off the wall. She tried to lie back on her bunk but her bones protested too much, it was less painful to just sit still. She placed one thumb over Xander's face and her other over Willow's and stared down at Buffy.

She didn't know how long she sat there. The bell for lunch jangled; startling her, but food was the last thing on her mind.

A while later a shadow fell over her. "You got ten minutes to eat Wilkins or you can starve 'til tonight." It was one of the guards. The guy was okay compared to some of them, but none of them were particularly friendly. After all, she was a criminal.

She didn't bother looking up at him. "I'll wait."

The guard shifted his weight. "What's up with you? You're normally the first in line for chow down." It was true, Slayer metabolism meant she had to keep eating, even when she wasn't actually Slaying.

She looked up at him to tell him to get lost and he caught sight of her face.

"Jesus girl, you okay?"

She looked back down at the photo and smiled, ignoring the sting of her split lip. "Five by five."

* * *

Buffy rushed in the front door, talking to Dawn over her shoulder. "I'm sure he was just shy."

"No, he was rude and weird." Dawn followed her in. She'd been moaning about Sethos the entire drive home.

"So forget about him, they'll be plenty more kids at school to make friends with."

Dawn didn't look convinced. "Whatever."

Buffy saw Kennedy and Giles sat at the kitchen table. "You okay?" She asked the younger Slayer and then without waiting for an answer. "Where's Willow?"

"I'm fine." Said Kennedy looking annoyed. "Will's upstairs, slathering gooey stuff on the boys."

Despite Buffy's preoccupation that got her attention as well as Dawn's. "What?" She asked with a smirk.

"They got poison ivy'd. I guess I escaped because of the Slayer stuff. How about you?" She asked Dawn.

Dawn pulled up her sleeve and inspected her arm closely. "Huh, I wondered what all these little itchy bumps were." She gave it a little rub, then pulled her sleeve back down and shrugged it off as nothing important. "So how are you, anyway?"

Giles spoke before Kennedy could. "We have Werewolves!"

"Damn is that gonna play havoc with the property prices or what?" Buffy darted up the stairs before anyone could ask her for a serious comment.

She walked into the room Xander and Andrew were sharing until the house renovations had been finished and sure enough the red-head was liberally spreading some creamy looking stuff all over Xander's chest. Andrew had already been done and he lay in bed, only covered from the waist down by a sheet and the top half of him covered up to the neck in the off-white mixture.

All three greeted her hello.

"You ready to go Will. I've got to check in, in an hour."

"Yep, you go grab you're bag and I'll be right out." Said Willow, wiping her hands and leaving to get the car keys and Cici.

Buffy leant over Xander's bed and gave him a kiss on the forehead. "I'll be back in a couple of days." She told him.

He smiled up at her. "I would give you a hug but you don't want to be on a plane smelling of this stuff." He waved his arms around and she caught a whiff of the potion and he was right she really didn't.

She left the room to grab her bags. Andrew lifted his head from the pillow ready for his goodbye kiss, but she didn't even notice. He lowered his head again dejected. "Am I ever gonna be a Scooby." He whined.

"Probably not." Said Xander honestly, then he called to Buffy as she passed the doorway again. "Buff, I hope it goes good in L.A., but you know, if for some reason it doesn't. We all still love you. Don't forget that okay?"

Buffy broke into a proper smile for the first time since the night before. "I never do." Then she was off down the stairs to the car.

* * *

Willow pulled the car up outside the airport terminal; the drive from Boudenver had been mostly silent. Buffy was fretting over her plans, Willow was trying to think of the best way to say what she wanted to say and Cici had been sitting in the back feeling the tension roll over her like an oil slick.

Willow realised she had no time for anymore re-writes and turned to Buffy as she was about to get out of the car.

"Buffy, I really wish you weren't just rushing off like this."

"Will, I have to see her." Buffy grabbed her hold-all from between her feet.

"But what if she doesn't want to see you?" Willow asked the valid question gently.

Buffy shrugged, trying for nonchalant, but the tightness of her features gave away the pain the comment brought. "Then at least I'll have tried."

"But…but…" Willow knew Kennedy wouldn't be happy with what she was going to say next, and probably neither would Buffy. "Can't you just wait for a few more days? We've got a dangerous Werewolf on the loose…"

Buffy smiled and gave her friend a good bye kiss on the cheek. "She'll be fine. She's a Slayer."

Buffy opened her door but Willow started speaking again. "Yeah but she's new. She's had no experience of Werewolves and you've had lots. You'd only have to help this once and then she'd know what to do herself next time. Please Buffy."

"Willow, my flights booked. My plane leaves in twenty minutes. I need to see Faith, like, yesterday. I'm not cancelling all that to hold Kennedy's hand. If you're that worried about it, just tell her not to patrol. I'll be back in a couple of days."

"We can't leave it Buffy. Tomorrow's the last night of the full moon. If we don't capture it by then it might have moved on before next months…and anyway it's not like Faith's going to be going anywhere in a big hurry." Willow flinched from the look the blonde Slayer shot her way.

Buffy climbed out of the car, and then turned to lean one hand on the roof so she could bend to look through the door. "So you want me to forget about what my girlfriend is going through so I can mollycoddle yours." She snapped. "Don't you think that's a bit selfish?"

"She's not you're girlfriend, Buffy."

Buffy's hand slapped the roof of the car, making Cici jump. "For Gods sake Will, is that even the point. Kennedy is facing her first Werewolves in exactly the same position as I was in – in fact she's actually got it better. All I had was you guys and a tranquillizer gun, she's got three Slayer-strength assistants and lots of Werewolf facts we didn't have back then. If Kennedy can't handle a couple of 'wolves with all that behind her, then maybe she's just not cut out to be a Slayer."

Buffy slammed the door shut and walked into the crowded terminal without waiting for a reply. Willow stared after her angrily. She had a nagging suspicion that everything Buffy had just pointed out was true. Kennedy was the first Slayer to have the constant back up of an army, okay not an army yet but it would be soon enough, of Slayers. Still it didn't change the fact that Willow was scared that something would go wrong tonight and she would be back to spending three nights of the month in bed alone. 'And let's face it." She thought as she headed the car into town. 'If something goes wrong then that's the best case scenario'.

* * *

Buffy settled into her seat and buckled the seat belt. She'd always had an irrational fear of flying. The fright gripping her from take off 'til landing, leaving her a sweatier, panting mess quicker than any demon had ever managed.

Giles had explained to her once that it was the fear of being out of control of what was happening to her. As soon as the plane took off she was relinquishing control to the pilot and that was something extremely hard for a Slayer to do. A Slayer had to be in control of the situation at all times or else the bad guys won.

Buffy had her own explanation which went more like 'How on earth can all this metal get up in the sky and stay there!' It wasn't natural to be forty thousand feet in the air unless you had feathers, and even then it was just stupid.

'Faith damn well better appreciate this.' She thought grimly, gripping the armrests hard enough to leave her fingerprints on them as the plane began to taxi down the runway.

She wondered for a moment if this wasn't a really stupid idea after all. Maybe she should have stayed. Willow was right; she had dealt with Oz plenty of times, plus plenty of strays that wandered towards the Hellmouth's energy. Was she the one being selfish by not sticking around to help put the bad doggies down? It wouldn't be the first time her rash decisions had put her friends in danger. She could have waited until after the full moon, it wasn't as if Faith knew she was coming or anything, she wouldn't have baked a cake.

'No I'm right about this, even if I could have gone about it a bit nicer. Kennedy has to be able to tackle this sort of thing, just like I had to, there can't always be someone there to help a Slayer out and it's not like she's going in blind. I've passed on the Scooby elite with an extra helping of experience.' She closed her eyes as the plane picked up speed on the runway. 'I haven't passed the Scoobies on I've just loaned them out. If I ever get off this thing alive I might want them back.' She thought, then all rational thought disappeared and all she was left with was "Oh Shiiiiiiiiiit." As the plane left the tarmac.

* * *

Hank left his seat at the window and came over to join his brother by the fire. "Not long now, Marv, I can feel it. Tonight's gonna be a good night I can tell." He took the bottle from Marvin and drank straight from the neck.

"Yeah well, don't you be pulling no stunts like you did last night. How am I supposed to be looking out for you, when you're acting all reckless the second my back's turned." Marvin took the bottle back off of Hank with deliberation, Hank tended to get a little …wild, when he was drunk. "You stick by me tonight, okay."

"Sure thing Marv, but you know I wasn't gonna hurt 'em right. I was just playing with 'em, but then she smelled funny, didn't you smell it?"

"Yeah, she smelled like she weren't scared." Said Marvin, more to himself than his brother, it had been bothering him a little all day.

"What do ya think that means Marv?"

Marvin shrugged. "Dunno Bro, probably nothing. We'll be okay tonight though. The old guy in the shop said no ones going to be at the McGee farm for a few weeks. It'll be perfect."

"See, I said it was gonna be a good night." Said a grinning Hank, he was rubbing his hands together in anticipation.

* * *

Willow arrived back at the house to find Kennedy and Giles in deep Werewolf discussion. She paused at the back door wondering if Giles had mentioned Oz, but from what she could tell it was more your basic facts and figures session than campfire tales.

She wondered if she was being as selfish as she had accused Buffy of being, no one knew more about the nature of the wolf than she, in the loosest term she'd been ones mate for nearly three years. 'Oh yeah, I can just imagine that going down well with Kennedy.' Her thoughts were disturbed when Cici politely pushed past her, gathering the attention of the couple in the kitchen.

"Hey Cici, it looks good. I think those plants almost did you a favour." Kennedy admired the younger Slayer's new haircut. It was much shorter than before, reaching to just below her ears and kind of wispy around her face. It reminded her a little of Vi, although Cici's colouring was much lighter than either Vi's or Willow's. Speaking of which.

Her girlfriend wrapped an arm around her shoulder and dropped a soft kiss on her head. "Hope you don't like it too much, I'd hate Cici's training to be neglected because I had to keep the two of you apart." Willow teased, then let out a squeal of surprise as Kennedy's arm snaked back and around her waist, lifting her easily and depositing her on her lap. She hadn't yet got used to the Slayer strength, but that didn't mean she didn't like it.

Cici was obviously embarrassed, whether by Kennedy's attention or the way her two elders were now looking at each other with hungry eyes, but either way it made her feel hot and uncomfortable. She blurted out her thanks to Willow and shot up the stairs to find Miranda and Alison.

"So Willow," Began Giles, blocking out the girl's hello kiss in a way he never could of imagined eight years ago. 'I trust Buffy got away safely."

Willow broke the kiss and moved from her girlfriend's lap to the chair next to her, which seemed more appropriate for a work based discussion. "Yep. We had words though. Not of the nice kind."

"You argued? What about?" Asked Giles.

"Not argued as such, more spoke our minds. And it turns out our minds aren't exactly in sync. Which shouldn't be a surprise but…I don't know Giles, I hate arguing with her, especially when she's about to go half way across the country, but I think she's making a mistake."

Kennedy squeezed her hand as Giles asked her. "What mistake do you think she's making? I mean is it just the fact that she's taken off at such short notice when we're facing another demon-related problem, or is it that she's taken off at such short notice to see Faith."

"Well, it's the demon thing obviously. She…she shouldn't just be running off when we need her help. She's the Slayer or…or…one of them.' She gave Kennedy an apologetic grimace.

"Willow, I think you know as well as I do that Buffy has earned the right to put personal matters ahead of Slaying at least for a while, and a couple of Werewolves hardly amounts to an apocalypse, or for that matter a particularly difficult encounter. Both you and I dealt with Oz plenty of times without Buffy's help. On top of that, Buffy in her current state over Faith would not have been much help anyway."

"Who's Oz?" Kennedy asked, looking from Giles to Willow.

"Okay it's the Faith thing!" Willow blurted out before Kennedy had even finished her question.

Giles looked puzzled but decided to let it go for now, he'd have a talk with Willow when they were alone. "And that would be…?

"It's Faith…again. Seriously Giles, she messed up Buffy's life, no all our lives, back in high school. Then she came back when we started college and did it all again. Then she came back last year, and okay I invited her and its good she came but look at the mess she left Buffy in again." As Willow carried on speaking she realised this really was the reason she'd been pissed at Buffy, and it helped her warm to the subject. "And now Buffy's run off to see her with all her hopes high and what if Faith isn't interested. What if all she wanted was to get Buffy into bed and now she's had her fun she'll just tell her to go away. Buffy's gonna be devastated and it'll be all Faith's fault…and partly mine 'cause I helped push the two of them together." She added guiltily, remembering how she told Faith the only room with any space left was the one Buffy was in.

"Willow, I know you have every reason not to trust Faith, she hurt you terribly by sleeping with Xander and…" Giles was talking slowly, choosing his words carefully, but Willow cut him off.

"Actually Giles, the holding a knife to my throat is higher up on my 'thousand reasons why I don't like Faith' list, but this isn't about that. I've forgiven her for all that. I had to last year. I've made mistakes just like she did. When I saw her in Los Angeles, what she did for Angel. It made me see just how much she has changed, wants to change. So honestly this isn't about that, although I think Xander may still have some issues." She smirked a little. "I just don't want to see Buffy hurt again and I think that's all Faith is capable of doing."

"I think you're wrong Willow. I believe Faith loves Buffy very much, much more than Buffy probably will ever realise. When she told me she wanted to go back to prison I was surprised to say the least, and I don't mind saying I tried to talk her out of it, but her reasons were ones I couldn't argue with even though I knew it could hurt Buffy. She did it so she wouldn't drag Buffy down, so Buffy could go and have the normal life she'd always dreamed of. She couldn't have done that if she'd accepted a wanted criminal into her life, into her home. Personally I believe we could have made it work, that we could have hidden Faith from the police long enough to work something out…"

Willow was shocked, Giles obviously really did believe in Faith, plus he was being uber-supportive of Faith and Buffy being together as a couple. Even she, as token Scooby lesbian, was having trouble with that mental picture.

"…But she felt the only way was to go back to prison and I felt that at least was better than her just running away." Giles finished.

"Well I hope Faith's appeal goes well." Said Willow, honestly. "But if she gets out and comes here, I don't think it's going to be all Christmas and cookies"

"More like a year long Fourth of July." Added Kennedy, thinking of the fireworks the two original Slayers caused even when they weren't together.

With a resigned smile, Giles had to agree.

* * *

Dawn was sitting on his bed talking to Andrew when Xander came out of the shower.

"Hey Dawnster, what's up? Did you escape the parting gift of yesterdays curse?"

Dawn looked up at him smiling brightly. "No I got the Poison Ivy." She showed off her arms, which were still covered in a light pinkish rash. "I'm just not a big girl about it." She teased.

"Well, ah, obviously you didn't get got as bad as I did." Xander quickly covered. He was in fact feeling a lot less itchy than he had in the morning. Willow was indeed a witch doctor.

"And me." Said Andrew. He was still lying in bed, his top half covered in the milky substance that had now dried to create a hard shell. "But this stuff is pretty cool; I have like an exo-skeleton." He grinned and rapped his knuckles against the stiff layer. It cracked and little creamy flecks flew up but it still made a knocking on wood sound.

"Hey we should spray you green and you could be a teenage ninja turtle." Laughed Dawn.

"Or he could be a teenage turtle." Amended Xander while he looked though their wardrobe for some fresh clothes. "'Cause he's not so much with the ninja skills."

"I could so be a ninja." Pouted Andrew.

Xander winked at Dawn, who smirked a little at Andrew then quickly turned it into a smile when he looked her way.

"So how was school? Did you meet any nice boys…and that answer had better be a no." Xander settled on a moss coloured polo top and a pair of baggy black pants and disappeared into the bathroom to dress. He left the door open though, so he could hear Dawn's answer.

"I don't actually start school until next week, Xander. Today was just an excuse for Buffy and the new Principal to talk about me behind my back." She grumbled. "Actually I did …meet a boy that is."

Andrew sat up a little straighter, sending white flecks flying into the air and Xander called through from the bathroom. "Go on."

"Well there's not much to tell. Except the guy is a jerk, and he's got a stupid name. Sethos. He's from Egypt which I thought was really cool but he acted like it was just some boring dump of a place." Said Dawn irritably.

"Yeah well you used to think that about Sunnydale, in fact we all did." Xander pointed out. "It's different when you live somewhere, the everyday becomes mundane."

"Yeah but who in their right mind would want to live in Sunnydale, despite the evil population obviously."

"Well no one now because it's a great big hole, but for that very reason I bet when you start school Monday and tell everyone where you're from, they'll think you're pretty cool. Sunnydale is bigger news than Area 51 at the moment. I say cash in on it." Xander re-emerged from the bathroom.

Dawn couldn't help but think he looked good. He certainly wasn't her type anymore, at least that's what she told herself when she saw him looking so good and, she noticed as he collected his watch from the side of his bed, smelling this good.

She shook the thoughts away and looked over at Andrew to distract her, he was picking away at the milky flecks. Yep, she always had Andrew to flush away the last of any tingly feelings.

Andrew noticed her watching and blushed. "I'm just gonna take a shower, wash this off." He told her before getting out of bed and going into the bathroom.

Seeing Andrew in his Spiderman pyjama pants just wasn't the same. She smiled at herself then realised that Xander was pulling on his shoes.

"You going somewhere?" She asked.

"Uh huh. I'm going down to the tavern. Meet some people, maybe purchase a beer or two."

"On your own." Dawn wrinkled her nose.

"Well I would take you, but I want to check the place out first. Do a taste test for evil beer; make sure the patrons aren't trolls or whatever. You can come next time." He promised.

"Well thanks, that's cool, but I really meant is it safe for you? You got beaten up yesterday by a gang of children, think what their parents could do."

"I'll be fine Dawnie, that was just some freak misunderstanding. Besides I've been down to Barnies before. It's okay, not the cool sophistication that was the Bronze, I'll grant you, but friendly enough."

He gave Dawn a smile and left the room. She followed after him.

"I'll grab something from the bar menu while I'm there, so that's one less meal to cook too." He was coming down the back stairs to the kitchen as he said that and Willow heard him.

"Grab what from what?" She asked looking up.

"Food, Barnies." He filled in the blanks and grabbed the car keys from the counter.

"You're going there tonight? You can't, we're going out on patrol." She told him, standing and moving between him and the back door.

He tapped his eye patch. "Me not so good with the patrolling anymore. I get blind-sided I'm just one more thing you have to worry about."

"That's not true, Xander. You are still every bit as helpful as you were before." Giles told him gravely.

Xander chuckled. "And I wasn't no great shakes before. Look you guys can handle this, I'm going out."

He tried to walk around Willow but she side-stepped keeping between him and the door.

"Xander, what ever you were before, you never deserted us when we needed you." She tried the guilt card, but he was ready for it.

"Still not." He took his cell phone out of his pocket and held it up. "You need me, hit the button and I'll come running." He put the phone away again.

"You'll come staggering more like." Said Kennedy unkindly.

Xander pretended like he didn't hear, but his face tightened.

"I'm taking the jeep, you can the have the car for patrol, it's quieter." He turned then and left the room. After a few seconds they heard the front door slam.

"Congratulations Kennedy." Said Dawn, sarcastically.

"If I said something you guys weren't thinking then I'll go after him and apologise right now." Said the Slayer.

No one spoke.

"Right then, in that case, can we talk about more important things? Like the fact that you guys don't have to patrol, that's my job."

"I'm going with you." Willow's resolve face was firmly on. "I have experience with Werewolves." She looked at Giles quickly then back to her girlfriend. "You haven't. We go together."

"I agree." Said Giles. "I think the three of us should…"

"I'm going." Said Dawn immediately.

"No you're not." Said Giles just as quickly.

"No Giles, I am. I've been through my share of badness with you guys and that doesn't go away just because we've moved to an all new Hellmouth. I have skills, utilise me."

Giles cleaned his glasses wearily, would his days of arguing futilely with the Summers' sisters ever end? He smiled, would he want it too? "Okay Dawn, but someone has to stay at the house."

"I don't think Alison should go out so soon, I know she's almost healed completely, but what's the good of having all these Slayer's if we can't substitute when we need to." Willow said.

"Andrew could stay with her. Then there's two people here to guard the homestead." Dawn added her suggestion.

Kennedy looked from one to the other as they spoke. Everything they said made sense but still…

"Well I think that's settled then. Alison will stay home and take it easy and Andrew can keep her company. The four of us will patrol accompanied by Miranda and Cici, the routine patrolling will be good for their training." Giles surmised.

"If we find the Werewolves, it may not be very routine." Said Willow.

"Well I think there are enough of us to keep them safe should needs be." Giles looked to Kennedy. "What time would you like to leave?"

"I'm just the Slayer, why ask me?" She huffed, and then relented when she saw their rueful expressions. "We'll get into town before dusk. They were on the main street last night. I guess we should start there."

* * *

Buffy got out of the cab with her bag and handed the money through the drivers open window. She turned as the cab pulled off to look up at the hotel... She'd stayed here for six weeks after the big battle, but it didn't feel like home. Nowhere did anymore. Most of those six weeks had passed in a blur of tears and staring competions with the ceiling. Now she was about to face the cause of all that and she still didn't know whether she wanted to hug her or hurt her. With a sigh she passed through the front doors of the Hyperion.

Lorne was in the lobby alone, on the phone behind the front desk. He gave her a big welcoming smile and a wave when he saw her, se gave him a half smile back and he mouthed "Won't be a minute." Before speaking into the phone again.

She dropped her bag onto the floor and stood impatiently tapping her feet and wondering if anyone else was around. She'd just spent three hours on a plane with screaming children and smarmy business men, she'd had the pleasure of sitting between one of each, and her fingers hurt from hanging on to her seat. Not to mention the time difference, she'd left Cleveland at twelve-thirty and she'd arrived in Los Angeles at twelve thirty. She knew it wasn't exactly light years she travelled but it was irritating her none the less, made her feel out of whack. So she wasn't feeling really friendly and she wanted someone to vent on, but she didn't want that to be Lorne. The green-skinned Demon was too sweet; it would be like kicking a puppy, or Tara. He reminded her of Clem, but even Clem had more of an edge when it came to kitten poker.

Lorne was finally done on the phone and sashayed over to give the Slayer a hug. "You look great." He told her before pulling back to look at her properly, he frowned. "Except for the bags under your eyes that could accommodate even Cordy's wardrobe, may she sleep restlessly and wake up soon." He added.

"How is she?" Buffy asked him politely.

"Oh no change, but Cordelia's a fighter."

"She is." She allowed herself to smile.

Lorne led her by the arm to the central seating area. "So to what do we owe the pleasure? I don't remember Angel saying you were coming." He sat down next to her.

Her face turned cold again. "He doesn't know. At least not unless anyone has phoned to warn him."

"Ah, you know then." Lorne stood up slowly, scared to make any sudden movements.

"And from that I guess you do too. Do you know where he is?"

"Well he's a busy man these days. Big chief of Wolfram and Hart, he doesn't get a lot of chance to just kick back and relax, Sweetie"

Buffy stood up fast and Lorne back-stepped before he could stop himself.

"Just tell me where I can find him. Or Gunn, Giles said he's acting as her lawyer. I need one of them to get me in to see her."

"Well Crumb-cake, I don't know if that will be possible."

"Why not." She asked vehemently.

"Uh because it's a prison. They don't just let you walk in any old time you like. They have rules about visits and red tape, who ever knew how much red tape existed. Oh don't mind me; its just who knew running a department of the biggest law firm in the universe would be so time consuming. " He saw she was about to shout at him and he pulled out his cell and snapped it open with the flick of a wrist. "…I'll give the big guy a call."

Lorne turned around and paced back to the desk while he waited for the other end to be picked up.

"Ah Angel buddy, it's me Lorne. Um I think you need to get back to the hotel. We have a visitor…No it really can't wait…Forget about the meeting with the Hairst'ka Prince, I know him, I'll send him a Tina Turner signed photo and he'll sign his grandspawn over to you, trust me this is more important…Hey!"

Buffy snatched the phone and spoke quickly. "Angel, it's me. Now we can do this the easy way or the hard way…the easy way is you and Gunn getting back here right now…Okay then we'll do it the hard way, I'm just gonna send Lorne out to buy some lozenges 'cause you know how sore my throat gets when I just won't stop yelling…Okay then I'll come to Wolfram and Hart …Why? Angel why don't you want me to see where you work?...What are you trying to hide from me now?...God, you're impossible, I'm coming over." She flipped Lorne's phone shut and handed it back to the uncomfortable looking demon. "Can you take me over there please?" She asked him sweetly.

"I guess." He gave her an unsure smile, donned a hat and trench coat and led the way out of the hotel.

* * *

Act Three

Xander ordered himself a beer and sat down on a bar stool. He smiled and slipped the money across the bar when the big burly bearded barman plonked a tankard of foamy goodness down in front of him.

The place was almost empty. Besides the barman and himself there were only three other patrons that he could see. It was still early though, not even five 'o' clock yet. Most people would probably still be at work.

Ah work, he remembered that distant concept. It wasn't something he'd had to think about since the First Evil up-ended their lives. He missed it, in the sense that being a carpenter, a respected carpenter no less had given him a basis to build his life on. That had been his big status in life. A couple of years ago he'd been 'Marriage guy' and 'Suit wearing carpenter guy', which together made him the most grown up out of all of his friends, and who on earth could have predicted that. In fact it was so out of left field there was probably a prophesy about it in some ancient book. Then he'd been hit by the idiot stick and dumped Anya at the alter and he'd left himself with just the job to make him anything more than a loser. Now he didn't even have that. He was back to being the only one without a skill, without anything he could contribute. Sure he was happy to carry on fetching donuts for the gang during research sessions, but he'd come too far to let that be all he was now.

He took a healthy sip from his drink and wiped the frothy moustache from his upper lip. Dawn had told him last year that he was the one who saw everything. 'Percepto guy'. He rubbed at the elastic of his eye patch. 'Guess that's gone now too,' he thought 'thanks to crazy Caleb and his opposable thumbs. Who ever said evolution was a good thing.' He stared glumly into his drink until the bartender spoke to him breaking up his thoughts.

"Hey, Xander isn't it. You were in the night before last." The burly bartender asked genially.

"Yeah." Xander smiled back. "That was me."

The bartender thrust his hand across the bar top. "Alex." He announced.

"Hey me too!" Xander's smile grew and reached to shake the man's hand, it turned to a grimace when his own was nearly crushed.

"Huh? I thought you just said it was Xander?" The big man looked puzzled.

"No it is, I'm Alexander, but my parents could never manage to slur more than Xander so it kind of stuck."

Alex's brow was still slightly furrowed but he broke into a grin and said. "Well that's cool; at least we won't get each other confused."

Xander nodded and finished his drink. Alex pulled it to him across the bar and began refilling it before Xander even asked. 'This is service.' He thought.

"So how you finding it up at Camp Creepy?" Alex pushed his tankard back to him.

"Camp Creepy, that actually a really good name for it." Xander smirked. "Okay I guess. It's a bit different to what we're used to." He admitted,

"So where you from originally?"

"Southern California, Sunnydale to be exact."

"Sunnydale, whoo! I heard about that place on the news. You lived through the 'quake? What was it like?"

Xander smiled to himself and settled in to tell Alex all about their escape from the 'Dale. Leaving out anything to do with Hellmouths, Vampires and Slayer mythos changing spells.

* * *

Buffy stormed ahead of Lorne into the lobby of Wolfram and Hart. She stopped in her tracks and spun around to take everything in. "Wow!" She grinned. "Not quite the Initiative but still gotta say – pretty cool."

"Uh glad you like it, Buffster. Angel's office is this way."

He led her through the maze that was their new offices until they reached Angel's assistant's desk.

"Hey Harmonica baby, is Angel in?" He called over the desk.

Harmony poked her head up, a bunch of loose-leaf pages slipping from her hands all over the desk. "Uh huh, he's in with the Prince of Hairst'ka, something to do with parking permits." She looked up from the papers for the first time and saw Buffy standing next to the demon, smirk in place and arms folded. She leapt back out of her chair, tipping it over as she scurried backwards. "Buffy, hi." She said sweetly.

"Harmony. You're working for Angel now?" Buffy's smirk grew. "I'm not surprised, he always did like dumb blondes, should have expected himself to have the ultimate one as his secretary."

"I'm not a secretary, I'm his assistant and anyway, you just called yourself a dumb blonde, so, HA!"

"Uh uh, I buy mine at the drug store. I'm just artificially dumb, you're all natural."

Harmony started to preen, running a pale hand through her hair, until she saw the expression on Buffy's face and realised she was being laughed at. She frowned and her demon came to the fore.

"Now, now Harm. You know what Angel said about going bumpy on the job. You save that for after work." Lorne calmed her.

Angel came out of his office with big smiles and lots of handshakes to a group of tall demons with bald, spotted scalps and long wispy green beards. They all bowed low to him before leaving.

Buffy noticed his smile snapped off the second their backs were turned. She marched over. "Angel we need to talk, call Gunn."

Angel audibly groaned when he saw her and then rubbed a hand over his face. "Come in Buffy. Harmony can you call Gunn and tell him I need to see him now, oh and a cup of coffee for Buffy too please."

"Angel, I want to make a complaint about Slayers in the workplace. I don't have to put up with…"

Angel shut the door on her and Harmony pulled a few faces before sitting back down and phoning Gunn's department.

* * *

Inside the office Buffy was speaking. "I'm not mad now Angel okay. I think I have every right to be, what with you keeping secrets from me…again, but I'm not. I thought lots about it on the way here and Lorne helped as well, and I see you did it for Faith's good and not for my bad. So all's forgiven, but I need to see her Angel, I need to and I'm not going anywhere until I have."

Angel held his hands up. "Okay we'll see what we can do."

Gunn opened the door and walked in. "Yo, Angel what's this all about, I'm in the middle of…" He trailed off when he saw Buffy. "Oh it's you, well okay then."

"She knows." Angel told him.

"Figured as much. She doesn't want to see you." Gunn said simply.

"How do you know? She doesn't even know I'm here."

"Well she didn't want you to know where she was so I'm guessing she doesn't want to see you." He leaned his butt against Angel's desk and crossed his arms.

"I don't care, I want to see her."

"And in the interests of my client I'm going to say no."

Buffy stared at him in disbelief.

* * *

"Okay, have we got everything?" Asked Giles, looking around the table.

"Gun." Said Kennedy holding up the tranquilliser dart gun.

"Crossbow, silver bolts." Said Dawn, holding up both hands to show them.

"Fingers and funny sounding words." Said Willow, holding her hands up and getting into the spirit with a smile.

Giles rolled his eyes with a smile and turned to the two newest Slayers.

Miranda held up two ornate silver daggers. "Daggers." She said shyly.

Cici held up a canvas backpack. "Nets, rope and a flask of tea." She said in her Upper East Side accent. "Why do I feel like I'm the designated die-er, in this hunting party."

Willow smiled at her. "You won't be weapon less once we leave the car and anyway you're job is perhaps the most important," She told the auburn haired girl.

"How's that?" She asked.

"Giles gets really cranky without his tea. You think a Werewolf is scary…"

* * *

Faith studied her bruises in the small cracked mirror she had wedged above her wash basin. The ones on her face had already faded to nearly nothing, her jaw still felt sore and it hurt to put to much weight on her left leg, but otherwise her accelerated healing was all business as usual.

She nodded to her reflection and finished putting on a little make up. She had five minutes until afternoon exercise started. The last thing she felt like was walking aimlessly around in the yard, but the alternative was getting herself sent to the infirmary and she'd already spent way too much of her young life in hospitals.

At least Lolitta and her groupies wouldn't be able to cause her too much grief with everyone out there. Sat in her cell they could pay her a visit at any time, it wasn't as if she could lock the door.

* * *

Buffy strode forward straight at Gunn and was a little put out when he didn't look intimidated by her. Still she could fix that. When he refused to move she placed one hand on his chest and carried on walking. He was swept backwards until his back met a filing cabinet.

"Buffy!" Angel called out warningly.

She ignored him and gave Gunn her best stare.

He infuriated her further by laughing. "Damn, you really are something else. You remind me of some of the girls in my old crew. Of course they ain't got super powers so you lose points for that."

She scowled at him and he just chuckled harder. "I can definitely see how you two could be good together."

"Then why won't you take me to see her." Buffy demanded.

"Like I said, I don't think it's in the best interests of Faith. Firstly, she don't want you to know where she is, so taking you in there is going to make her pissed at me, and I need her to trust me one hundred percent. Secondly if she sees you it could make her mess up the case." Buffy started to protest. "I'm not saying it would, but it could. From what I can tell you're like the flame thrower to her fuse. I need her calm and thinking clearly if we're gonna pull this off."

"Giles said it was all straight forward. That you've got everything you need to get Faith off as long as she tells the truth when her appeal comes around."

Buffy turned sharply to look at the wall, her senses were trying to scream something at her, but there was nothing there. She noticed Angel look that way too but when she gave him a questioning glance he only offered a big inocent smile. Irritably she shook the feeling away and focused on what Gunn was saying.

"We have, but the thing with the truth is that it doesn't actually prove she's not a murderer, all it proves is that Wilkins was working her from the start. The jury doesn't necessarily have to believe that Faith didn't happily go and kill those people. We have to make them believe that. Faith slips up just once and this could all just be a waste of time. That's why I need her primed."

"But surely seeing me will give her more to fight for. If she knows I'm behind her one hundred percent." Tried Buffy.

"Maybe, but all I know is that at the moment Faith is putting everything into this because it's the only way she can see you again. You go in there and tell her she can see you any time it might take some of the fight out of her, she might lose the edge that will help her win this appeal and nothing against you Buffy but my first priority is getting Faith out, not you're love life."

Buffy punched out hard and Gunn turned his head with a surprised expression to look at the small rupture her fist had made in the filing cabinet behind him.

* * *

Spike listened to his Slayer speak from halfway through the wall, careful to make sure none of his ghostly parts were sticking out in Angel's office. He couldn't let her see him like this, all go throughable, it was embarrassing. He allowed himself a smile as she gave the lawyer what for, at least she was here about her rogue sweetheart and not tall, dark and droopy-drawers.

* * *

"Gunn I am going to see her. I've listened very calmly to all your reasons why I shouldn't and not one of them is good enough for me to change my mind, and she will still be fully prepared to win this appeal, because if I find out she's done anything to jeopardise it then I will personally get myself arrested and thrown in jail so I can kick her ass all over it. If you won't help me see her today then I'll ring the head guy and demand a visit or I'll get Willow to magic me in or I'll storm the place with tear gas and an AK-47. Some way I'm getting in there, with you're help it will just be less disruptive."

Gunn looked at Angel. "Is she for real?"

"She's pretty stubborn." Shrugged Angel.

Spike grinned, resisting the urge to peek out of the wall and see the obstinate bloody look he knew would be on her face right now.

"You better believe it. Now please phone them and tell them Faith's lawyer needs to see her urgently. You can do that right?"

Gunn sighed heavily before reaching for the phone on Angel's desk. "If Faith loses it over this and gets herself chucked in solitary and her appeal cancelled, I'm gonna say I told you so, like, a hundred times. You got that?"

Buffy nodded. "Thank you."

* * *

Spike melted out of the wall into the hall and sauntered off whistling, his girl might not be the one and only Chosen any more, but she was still a force to be reckoned with!

* * *

"Okay, everybody out." Said Kennedy as she pulled up behind the 'The Mouth' diner. It was open late and the only place the car wouldn't be conspicuous. "Good name for a place around here." She pointed at the weather scratched wooden sign above the door.

"Indeed." Smiled Giles.

Everyone clambered out of the car and stood ready, Giles handed Cici a small crossbow. "You shouldn't need it, but just in case." He told her before leaning into the trunk and pulling out a long silver sword, he tucked it underneath his coat to keep it out of sight.

Kennedy walked to the edge of the car lot and looked both ways down Main Street. She waited for the others to join her. "They came from that way and they disappeared that way." She pointed to show where she meant, then looked at the two new Slayers for confirmation. They both nodded.

"Right, well it will be dark soon, which way do you want to try first?" Asked Giles. Kennedy may have been new at patrolling and unprepared for whatever they might find, but Slayers by nature had senses and instincts for the occult much stronger than any human, even for a man who had spent most of his life watching for these occult happenings. He trusted Kennedy to lead them where they had to be, even if she didn't know where that was yet.

Kennedy shrugged. "Where do Werewolves like to hang out?" She asked, keeping her voice quiet even though the street was deserted.

"That's a good question and the answer is where ever they want." Giles answered wryly. "Mostly, experience would dictate that they are drawn to places where, uh, h- hormones were raging, so to speak. Although they are human more than not, most Werewolves, when they change, are only interested in causing destruction. It is the wolf that wants to cause the damage though and not the human…"

"Unless they're a big old skank!" Willow muttered, earning her a questioning glance from her girlfriend which she pretended not to notice.

Giles carried on. "…and we must remember that, when we come across them. Our mission tonight is to capture not to kill. These people may not even be aware of what is happening to them."

* * *

"I can feel it Marvin. I can feel it." Hank paced the floor incessantly, his gaze trained on the window which let in the last of the suns rays.

Marvin was sweating slightly, even though he stood there naked in the chill cabin. He propped the window open with a chunk of the wood he had chopped earlier and then threw a few more logs on the fire, so it would still be burning fierce when they returned. One of these days he feared they'd come home to find the place on fire, but it was worth it to lay in front of the makeshift hearth after a night on the town.

"Yeah well if you can feel it, rein it in. Don't you go forgetting what I said? We made ourselves a nice home here, don't you go ruining it by making trouble." He told his younger brother, he stretched his neck out and flexed his arms as he began to feel the tingle of the moon himself.

"I'll be good, I promise." Promised Hank, while he was still able to talk.

The sun sank below the horizon and a minute later two large, grey shapes jumped through the open window, growling with exuberance.

* * *

Mr and Mrs Maple were just about to sit down to a roast chicken dinner. Their living room was small but they called it cosy. The crockery and cutlery laid out wasn't the prettiest or the most expensive but it was the family best and that meant a lot to the Maple's.

Edna Maple was just bringing through a steaming jug of gravy when movement outside the window caught her eye. Leaning the hot jug precariously on the window sill she peered through the lacy curtains at the darkening street.

"Garth." She called out to her husband.

"Aye." He was in the kitchen sharpening the carving knife.

"Them kids is outside. The ones from the store yesterday, and they've got friends with them."

"What are they doing? They best not be coming here!" Garth moved quickly to latch the front door, waving the carving knife in front of him menacingly.

"No you old fool, they're just walking down the street, bold as you please." Said Edna, her eyes not leaving the figures outside.

"I wonder what they could be up to." Garth wondered aloud, joining his wife of forty years at the window.

"I'm sure I've no idea, but whatever it is, I'll bet it's no good." Said Edna, sure of herself. "One of them's the man. It's not right, him being out at night with all them young girl's. The sheriff should do something about it."

"Aye." Garth agreed, secretly wishing he ever got a chance to be out at night in the company of young girls. Smiling at himself for his foolish thoughts, he gave his wife a kiss on the cheek. "They're heading up to the McGee place; maybe they've got some business with him."

Edna shook her head. "Charles McGee isn't there is he? He's taken his family on vacation out west somewhere, remember."

"Well I guess they'll have a wasted trip then." Garth's stomach gave a growl with hunger and the smell of roast chicken wasn't doing anything to tame it, he was ready to forget about whatever the city lot were up to, for tonight at least.

"No I think old Owen said that the Thomas's boy was going over most nights to feed the animals. If they're lucky they'll catch him." Edna also moved from the window and busied herself with taking the gravy to the table.

"That Owen knows everything." Chuckled Garth as he began to carve.

"Well that's what comes from running a general store for as long as you can remember."

* * *

"Why don't they have street lights out here Giles?" Moaned Dawn.

"Because we're traipsing through the back of bloody beyond that's why." Giles grumbled back.

They were walking up a single track road in a tight clump. Kennedy only slightly ahead, with her finger on the tranq. guns trigger so she could fire at a split seconds notice. Every time someone nudged her from behind she nearly did just that.

"Could you guys back off just a tad?" She asked for the fourth time since leaving the street lamps behind on Main Street.

"Are you kidding me?" Whispered Miranda. "Who knows what's lurking in the hedges. Watching us from the dark shadows, getting ready to pounce. It's not like we'd know, there could be a wolf close enough to touch right now."

Everyone looked around nervously.

"I think I speak for everyone when I say 'shut up Miranda'." Dawn chuckled nervously.

"I'm just saying." Miranda whispered back. She felt someone take her hand and nearly screamed. She whipped her head around quickly. "Christ Cici, warn me next time."

Cici gave her hand a little squeeze. "Sorry I thought I'd be less scared if I was holding on to someone."

Willow sighed then held a hand in front of her. A tiny ball of blue light appeared, illuminating just enough to see each other and the road directly in front of them.

"Won't that attract the Werewolves?" Asked Dawn.

"If Kennedy senses anything I'll get rid of it." Promised Willow.

"No keep it on, let them come." Said Kennedy. "It beats walking around half the night trying to find them.

* * *

Marvin and Hank were loping along side by side and it felt great. There was no bigger rush than those first few hours in the wolf. The power was at its strongest, when the moon was fresh and you felt like you could run forever. Or at least until you woke up naked twenty miles out of town.

He steered his brother towards the farm. Better to stay out of town. Marvin didn't care how much havoc Hank would cause at the farm. Animals were there to be eaten. People though, that was a different matter. People and wolves were equals; they'd learnt millennia ago to co-exist by keeping out of each others way. People left you alone if you left them alone. You soon learnt that there were a lot more people out there to hunt you down if you didn't abide by the rules, too.

Hank didn't think like that, he just felt the energy coursing through him and let it over take him. Sure that was a fun way to live but it didn't let you live very long. Look what had happened to their parents. He'd never told Hank the full story of their deaths, hadn't wanted to upset the boy, but he knew. He'd been running with them that night when they had got reckless, forgot about the rules. They'd chased down a pack of hunters, just for the fun of it, just for the thrill. Marvin believed in his heart they hadn't wanted to hurt anybody, after all they were the ones who taught him the rules. They had just got caught up in the energy, and then disaster had struck. The hunters hadn't been scared, they'd been expecting it. Humans lived by the same ideas as wolves. Safety in numbers, and there were more humans than his mom and pop had realised and they turned and they fired.

It was guns they fired of course, guns with silver bullets, but his young wolf brain hadn't known that. He'd seen the flashes of fire and turned and ran even before the deafening report reached his ears.

Going into town the night before had been a mistake, but the place was usually so quiet and Hank liked to knock over the dumpsters. It had seemed harmless but it wasn't, it had nearly ended in the ancient set of laws being broken. If Hank had killed that weird girl they would have had to move again and Marvin would have had to live with the guilt of Hank's mistake. He loved his brother dearly and would do anything in the world for him and if that meant keeping him out of trouble to keep him safe then so be it. Chicken tasted pretty good anyway.

They leapt easily over the wire fence protecting the south end of the McGee property, and Marvin could feel the excitement pouring off his little brother and it was infectious. His tongue lolled out of the side of his mouth as they ran nearer the chicken houses, giving him the appearance of laughing.

They were near enough to smell the chickens and he heard Hank give a cross between a growl and a bark as he surged ahead of him, but Marvin suddenly got the impression that something was wrong. He lifted his nose to air and sniffed hard. There was someone here. Above the lingering scent of the McGee's and the blood tingling scent of the chickens was a fresher scent, a human one.

Hank gave a strangled howl as he leapt at the first chicken house. His supernatural strength knocked the house clean over and the air was filled with the cluck and squawk of frightened chickens. He pounced and dived among them, feathers flying.

Marvin snapped up at passing chicken more by reflex than will, he was still trying to figure out what was going on. There was supposed to be no one here, it was supposed to be safe, but he could smell someone close by. He tried to get his brothers attention, and damned the wolf body not for the first time for not having decent vocal cords. They had to get out of there.

Marvin started yelping and growling, telling Hank it was time to move, but Hank was having too much of a good time. For every chicken he sunk his fangs into there was another three or four just flapping around like funny looking clowns. He was in his element, plus this was all legal, he weren't breaking his brother's precious rules by wailing on a few chickens.

The outside light suddenly came on making the yard as bright as day. Marvin froze under the spot light, wondering what the billyheck to do next. Hank tossed a chicken into the air with his jaws and pounced on another drunk on the thrill of the kill and the taste of warm blood.

A lad of no more than sixteen came flying out into the yard, shotgun at the ready and took in the scene of devastation. Hank was up to his eyes in white feathers. Marvin stood stock still, staring at the young man. They were equals after all, this situation was bad, but they were equals. All he needed to do was to get Hank and get the hell away from there. The boy wouldn't shoot, not just for some chickens that weren't even his.

"Hey get away from there, ya thieving critters." The lad called, raising the shotgun to his shoulder and firing a warning shot into the air.

'That's it boy.' Thought Marvin, 'Do your duty and scare Hank off for me at the same time."

Marvin was geared to run when he saw Hank react to the gun shot. His brother looked up from the chickens and tensed, preparing for flight.

"Come on boy." Marvin managed to convey in a growl. He wanted to already be running but he couldn't leave Hank behind.

Hank gave a growl and leapt forward away from the chickens, but instead of running to meet Marvin he stopped and faced the lad, growling fiercely all the while. Marvin could see the blood lust in his eyes making them gleam with liquid fire.

The lad raised the shot gun and levelled it at the monstrous wolf in front of him. "I'm gonna shoot you dead, dog. Now get the hell outta here."

With a snarl Hank pounced, the muscles in his legs propelling him much further than a regular wolf could have managed, but before he covered half his intended distance his eyes reflected the flash of fire and his yelp was lost in the sound of the gun.

Marvin saw the sparks, he heard the gun go off, he saw his brother go down and he went insane. He threw himself at the young man, yelping and snarling, and took him by surprise as he tried to reload his gun. He bore the man down to the ground and sunk his fangs into the first flesh he could find. The blood flowed down his throat and made him feel sick, but this was right. The boy had killed his brother, it deserved to be avenged..

Marvin was was caught off guard when another wolf appeared on the scene, running full pelt towards him and then leaping and knocking him clear of the murderer. He rolled several feet away and then landed back on his paws, facing the other creature. It was a Werewolf, but of a different species to his own. Marvin had the look of a real wolf, just bigger and stronger and with the ability to think alomost like a human. This new wolf was more humanoid, while it stood on all fours like he did, it's back looked funny, like he was hunched over and his muzzle was short and stubby, the nose more human than animal. His assessment of his attacker ended abruptly when it launched itself at him and they engaged in a vicious battle of claws and fangs.

The Thomas's youngest son had screamed as he felt the weight of the Werewolf knock him to the ground. He screamed again and struggled as hard as he could when he felt sharp fangs slide into the skin of his shoulder. He continued to scream even as the blood drained out of him, but they became weaker and weaker. When the heavy weight of the wolf disappeared from his chest and the fangs withdrew with a stinging pain from his skin he was already too weak to do anything but lay there gasping, and listening to the snarling and growling of the fight.

* * *

The Slayers and the Scoobies trudging up to the farm by the light of Willow's spell paused to look around wildly and then at each other, as the sounds of screaming and gunfire and snarling floated over the fields to them. Then, as one, they sprinted up the track towards the source.

* * *

Xander had spent a pleasant four hours steadily sipping his beers and chatting to Alex, the barman, and he was disappointed when a beeping noise caused the guy to abandon his post near Xander and head to where a heavy duty oil skin coat hung on a hook behind the bar. He reached into a deep pocket and pulled free a walkie talkie. He pressed a button and a tinny voice could be heard.

"Alex, we've got a situation out on 'Old Town Road.' I was driving west of there and I heard shooting and screaming coming from the McGee place."

"Sam, I thought that place was empty?" Replied Alex.

The bar, that hadn't got much busier since Xander had come in, had fallen silent at Sam's message. Xander wondered why this Sam guy was calling his new barman friend for help.

Static filled the silence before Sam's disembodied voice was heard again. "Doesn't sound very empty."

"Okay I'm on my way. Move around to the front of the property but don't approach the house. I repeat don't approach until I get there. Over and out." Alex started shrugging into the big coat slipping the walkie talkie back in the pocket.

Xander sat staring into space. His friends were patrolling tonight. What were the chances that they weren't involved in whatever ruckus was going on? He figured slim to none. Sam had said there was shooting and screaming, that couldn't be good. He had to get to them.

He got off his stool so fast he had to catch it to keep it from tipping over, he didn't even realise Alex was talking to him.

"Hey, Xander, I said I've got to go out, can you watch the bar for me."

"Um what? Oh no I'm sorry I have to go." He made his way towards the door and suddenly thought of something. "And you shouldn't be going out there anyway, it might not be safe, you should call the police. Have them deal with it." Xander was aware of a few chuckles from around the room as he stumbled out of the door.

He stood in the middle of the road, looking from left to right. "Oh yeah this is good. I have no idea where anyone is, I have no idea where the trouble is and I have no idea where anywhere is." He muttered to himself. "Wonder Xander to the rescue."

Alex came striding through the door after him. "Xander what was all that about? Are you okay?"

Xander spun around when he heard the barman's voice. "Uh yeah, I'm fine. I was going to check out this trouble. I'm trained for things like this. As a civilian I suggest you go back inside until I have this under control." Said Xander in his best fake Riley voice. "Uh after you've pointed me in the direction of Old Town Road that is."

Alex laughed and it was a big booming sound. He reached into another pocket and pulled out a leather wallet, which he flipped open to show Xander a silver star. Underneath the star was the name 'Deputy Alexander Nichols'.

"I think it's my job to tell you to stay inside." Joked Alex as he walked over to a big four-wheeler parked in the alley beside the bar.

"I have to get out there, I can't explain, at least not until I get there, but I'm just going to hop in my car, can you wait so I can follow you." Xander was already fishing in his pocket for his keys, expecting Alex to laugh at him and drive off, so he'd have to be quick.

"Get in here, we can go up together."

"Huh?" Xander dropped the keys and cursed, bending down to scoop them up again he asked. "You're serious?"

"Yep." Alex reached under the driver's seat and pulled out a blue light shaped like a snow globe.

"Cool." Xander ran for the passenger side and jumped in as Alex began to pull off.

"Besides if you'd got in that jeep then I'd have had to arrest you for drunk driving and that always puts a strain on budding friendships." Alex swung onto the main road and headed out of town.

"I expect it would." Agreed Xander. "Can we put on the flashy light?" He asked excitedly.

Alex smiled. "Sure, flip that switch." Xander did so and the blue light started flashing on top of the car. "So Xander, are you a military man?"

"Yeah, well no, well sorta."

"You're a complicated fellow."

* * *

Faith's back hit the chain link fence surrounding the exercise compound and she only just ducked the punch to her face. She'd underestimated the quality of Lolitta's rage. The Italian-American had a serious case of hate for Faith and it seemed she didn't care who knew it. Faith figured Lol just didn't like the fact that she wouldn't kow-tow to her like everyone else. As far as Faith could tell she was the only woman in the whole stinking place who wouldn't be grateful to be Lollita's bitch and that really burned her. Especially with Faith's appeal coming up, the Slayer wouldn't be surprised if Lolitta didn't plan on killing her before she had a chance to get out. Use her as an example of what happened when you didn't fall in line.

'Well she can try, but she doesn't know what a Slayer can take if she thinks these weak ass attempts are gonna finish me off. Huh you idiot Faith, she don't even know what a Slayer is.' Faith thought to herself chuckling grimly as she side stepped another punch watching as Lolitta grew increasingly angry. 'Maybe just before I leave I'll have to teach her." She decided as she was rushed from the side and smacked into the chain link fence by one of the ugly sisters.

She was forced to the ground, by the sheer weight of the woman bearing down on her and she stayed there with her head tucked in between her arms until the kicks stopped. 'A guard has finally noticed what's going on.' She thought as she peeked through her hair.

A guard was indeed approaching the chain link fence where she had been cornered, but he didn't look like he was running to her rescue, he just looked put out that he had to come all the way down here. She lifted her head further and saw Lolitta and her pals sauntering off in the other direction. Why were they walking away? Why wasn't the guard telling them to stop?

"Wilkins." The guard barked her name.

"What?" She snapped, looking up at him still on her hands and knees.

"Shit girl, what happened to you?"

"You mean you didn't see?" From his blank expression she could tell he hadn't. She shook her head in disgust. "Nothing, nothing happened." She started to stand up, wincing as she did so. Her ribs, already bruised earlier, were giving her the most pain. She figured she probably had at least one or two broken now. Her face had taken at least one solid kick too.

The guard frowned. "Nothing? You look like you got run over by a heard of Bison." He reached out to touch her swollen cheek and she slapped his hand away.

"I slipped." She spat sarcastically. "What did you want?"

The guard had to think for a second before he remembered. "Oh yeah, you're lawyers here."

"Gunn? Cool. Lead the way." Faith started hobbling in the direction of the visitors block.

"Uh you sure you don't want to go to the infirmary. I can tell them to come back another time." The guard was still looking at her with something akin to concern.

"No really I'm fine. Hang on – Them? Angel's here too?"

"Dunno if that's her name. She sure looks like one though. Damn Faith, you're either luckier than you look or smarter than you look. Having a blonde babe with a killer body for a lawyer; the jury'll be so busy creaming their shorts, they'll agree with anything she says." The guard laughed at his own wit.

Faith wasn't listening anymore – her body was having some kind of melt down. Her heart ping-ponged inside her chest until it settled in her throat and her stomach did a loop the loop before sinking into an icy pit somewhere near her bowels.

Only one person had the ability to cause such conflicting emotions in her.

And she was here!

* * *

Marvin had had enough. This creature was just as fast, just as agile and just as strong as he, but it had the advantage of size, plus the uncanny ability to rise up on its hind legs and swipe with its forepaws. More like a bear than a wolf.

The next time the thing batted him away, instead of leaping straight back in to the fray, he turned and dashed away across the field. After a seconds surprise the newcomer took off after him.

Marvin had the benefit of a small head start but he could still feel the other wolf's breath on his heels, he picked up a little speed and tried a feint to the left, before veering to the right. It worked, and he heard the other wolf skid across the dewy grass as he tried to change direction. Now Marvin was heading for the road and he pulled out all the stops. If he could get into the woods on the other side of Old Town Road then he stood a chance of losing his attacker.

He leapt the boundary fence at the same time he smelled humans. In mid-flight he could do nothing but hope he was across the road to fast for them to register him. He could see a faint blue light, like concentrated moonlight and he growled at the sight. His paws hit the asphalt at the same time as something pierced his left shoulder. He yelped in shock more than pain and stumbled badly, losing his footing and sliding across the rough surface of the road.

He lay there struggling to get up and heard a shout of, "Good shot Kennedy." Then everything went black.

The second wolf skidded to halt at the fence, spraying up dirt and pebbles which scattered across the asphalt alerting the humans to his presence.

Someone yelled. "There's the other one!" And he sniffed the air deeply, his tail wagging slowly from side to side. He took a hesitant step forward, but saw the tranquilliser gun aimed at him, and that stirred memories of pain and captivity and he spun on a dime and ran back the way he had come.

* * *

Kennedy cursed as her second dart went wide. "Damn dog." She muttered. "Giles and Cici bag and tag this one. The rest come on. Let's make tonight two for two." She jumped the fence and sprinted across the field in pursuit of the second wolf.

* * *

Hank blearily opened his eyes. His stomach hurt and his throat felt dry and he was pissed about it. He pulled himself up on his haunches and choked up a mouthful of chicken feathers. That made his throat feel better, but it didn't improve his mood any.

He looked around for his big brother. Marvin always made everything better. He wasn't there. His scent was all around, mixed with the scent of another Werewolf, one Hank didn't recognise, it made his nose itch, but fast on the heels of that was another scent, one that was infinitely more pleasurable, one he'd never been allowed to enjoy before, but now without Marvin there to stop him, he was drawn towards it.

He crept towards the fallen boy, like a dog that knew he was doing something naughty but his master wasn't around to tell him off so to hell with the slipper. The scent of human blood felt thick on his tongue and it was better than any chocolate he'd tasted in his human shape.

The man was still alive, he could hear his heartbeat. It was weak, but it was there. Whoever had attacked this man had bitten a chunk out of his shoulder, if it had been any nearer his neck he would have been dead in an instant. Hank gingerly stuck out a tongue and lapped at the congealing blood. It tasted so good, he paid no heed to the panting sounds coming across the field, or of the car pulling up alongside the house. It wasn't until he heard a human voice that he ceased his lapping and looked up.

"Oh my sweet Jesus."

A man stood in front of him with a gun. He was sickened by what he was witnessing and leaned to the side heaving, by the time he had the presence of mind to raise his gun and shoot, Hank had already done the math. Man plus gun equals pain. He leapt at the man with a ferocious snarl and the man staggered backwards. He hadn't had time to fire the gun, but he had brought it up in front of him pretty quick and now he used it as leverage to keep the wolf away from his throat. The things claws sliced through the material at his shoulders, but his uniform was thick and he wasn't badly injured yet.

* * *

"Oh my God, there's another one." Dawn's voice came from the dark. "It's attacking that man."

"Well shoot it." Said Kennedy. "I've got the other one." Shepulled the tranq. gun up to her shoulder as she hastily inserted another dart,and fired at the wolf who was twenty feet in front of her and closing on its companion and the helpless man fast.

Dawn stopped, took a firm stance and raised her crossbow. She sighted on the wolf attacking what looked like a cop and pulled the trigger. The bolt headed straight for the attacking wolf's rump.

The dart Kennedy had fired clipped the end of the fleeing wolf's tail off. He yelped and jumped in the air a little earlier than he'd planned to, his strong back legs sending him sailing into Hank and knocking him off of Sam the Cop. Just in time for the crossbow bolt to hit Sam in the thigh. He gave a yowl of pain equal to Hank's and collapsed to the ground.

"Oh crap!" Said Dawn.

* * *

Act Four

The sounds of snarling filled the night air and raised hairs on everyone's neck. Willow rushed immediately to the cop Dawn had just shot in the leg, ignoring the fighting werewolves to the side of her. The cop held his leg and groaned in pain and she put her hand on his shoulder as some form of comfort.

Dawn stood frozen to the spot, the crossbow hanging limply by her left side, her other hand was raised to her mouth. What had she done now? Buffy was gonna kill her.

Miranda was crouched over the other fallen young man. The black-haired Slayer checked for a pulse and pulled her sweatshirt over her head and held it to the wound on his shoulder.

Kennedy quickly moved away from her friends towards the wolves, reaching into the bag at her shoulder for fresh darts for the gun. She kept her eyes glued to them as they tumbled over one another in a desperate attempt to pin the other down.

The noises they were making as they fought were creeping her out and she fumbled nervously in her bag, her hand coming out empty every time. She almost cheered when the sprawling scrap landed the bigger beast against a stone used to keep the gate from opening.

Stunned, it lay there trying to recover, slowly shaking its head back and forth. Hank wasted no time in leaping away from the dazed interloper and Kennedy cursed herself for being distracted. Hank looked at her, blood and drool dripping from his muzzle. She raised the gun and pulled the trigger, but all that happened was a quiet 'thwip'. She'd forgotten she hadn't found another dart.

Hank pawed at the ground his yellow eyes flashing as he watched this funny smelling human warily. He was filled with rage and hate and blood-lust for everything at the moment. Marvin wasn't there and that always made him feel bad. He wanted to kill this human without the fear for making him scared himself.

He backed up a little and Kennedy smiled grimly. She gave up on finding a tranquilliser dart and instead spun the gun around in her hands so she held the muzzle, the stock raised to head height.

"Come on then Fido, come and get it." She told the terrified Hank, slowly advancing on him. His growls grew louder and even fiercer as he watched her come closer. He wanted to pounce and rip her limb from limb but his brain was sending him messages about the pain of a gun. The holes in his abdomen a testament to the memo.

* * *

Willow turned around to see her girlfriend walking towards the werewolf, the tranquilliser gun raised like a club. "No." She screamed out.

Kennedy didn't take her eyes off the wolf but Hank's head spun to the source of the warning and seeing an unarmed human, saw the way to vent his wrath. He twisted his body and leapt at the witch, catching her by surprise.

Hank bowled the red-head over, but she just had time to fling a hand up and shout "Protect!" The wolf continued to snap and snarl inches from her face and she gritted her teeth and willed the magick to hold.

Kennedy gave her own cry of "No!" and rushed over. A police jeep pulled to a stop in the yard with a screech of tires, drowning her out. Xander jumped from the vehicle and rushed towards Willow and the wolf, without a thought for weapons.

Willow lay there with her head pushing back against the ground. Despite the magick creating a barrier between her and the monster, she could still smell its rank breath and could feel the saliva drip across her face and throat. She wondered where Kennedy and the other Slayers were. They had swords; they should be chopping this things head off. She realised they were probably battling against the second werewolf, figuring her magick would keep her safe. 'Maybe it will' she thought, 'but that doesn't mean it'll be safe for everybody.' She could feel the magick pulling her in, she knew she could blast this creature to smithereens with a flick of her wrist if she wanted to. She could feel the words she needed to say floating at the top of her mind waiting to be picked up and thrown at the werewolf, but she resisted. This thing was human for twenty-eight days of the month, she couldn't kill it. 'But someone else damn well can!'

Kennedy reached the wolf and grabbed the first part she could, his tail. She gripped it tight and tried to pull him away from her girlfriend, but Hank wasn't to keen on that and he took a second out from terrorising Willow to turn and slash wildly across Kennedy's face with a paw. She fell back and felt the claws slice open her cheek.

Xander caught her as she fell back into him and he unceremoniously cast her to the side to get to his best friend, but he was too late. The other werewolf had recovered and he saw what was going on. He rushed in from the side, inches in front of Xander, and again knocked Hank clear.

Xander knelt at Willow's side. "It's okay. You're okay." He had to shout to be heard over the wolf fight.

She opened her eyes slowly and he watched as the black seeped out of them and they were green again. He stroked her hair, the black turning to copper under his hand. She gave him a tentative smile and asked. "Am I still Willow?"

He smiled down at her. "Yeah."

"That's real touching you guys." Said Kennedy, climbing to her feet and gingerly touching the four gashes in her cheek, "but can we get to the killing now."

"I…I…I th…think its being d…done f…f…f…for us." Stuttered Miranda, horrified by the spectacle in front of her but unable to look away.

The bigger, heavier wolf was on top of Hank and had finally managed to pin him by the throat. Now he shook his head from side to side, driving his long canines in even deeper and pulling at the flesh.

When it ripped out a big chunk of Hank's neck, Miranda threw up everywhere. Dawn snapped out of the trance she had been in since shooting the cop in the leg and gave a heartfelt "Ewww."

Alex came running up beside Xander. "What the Hell is going on here?" He demanded angrily, pulling out his talkie to call for an ambulance. Xander nodded towards the dead werewolf and the very much alive werewolf. Alex swore and knelt beside Sam, who had sat up and was inspecting the bolt in his leg.

The live werewolf looked up from Hank's body and stared at the assembled humans. His jowls dripped blood onto the cracked earth of the yard and it mixed with that flowing from Hank's neck. His flanks heaved as he panted and his gaze fixed on Willow.

She stared back, leaning against Xander, unnerved by the animal's interest. Its tail shifted slightly from side to side and she blinked, her brow creased in confusion and still they held each others gaze.

Kennedy grabbed the crossbow from Dawn's hands and swiftly loaded a bolt from her bag. "One to go." She said as she pointed it at the wolf.

"The tranq. gun?" Said Xander, wondering where it had gone.

"No time." Kennedy started to pull the trigger, convinced the werewolf giving Willow so much attention was about to attack like the last one had.

"No!" Shouted Willow again and pushed Kennedy's arm down just as the bolt left the bow, it went 'thunk' into the dry earth and quivered there.

"What do you mean no?" Kennedy rounded on her angrily already searching for another bolt.

"It just saved my life." Muttered Willow. The werewolf gave a whine and turned to run away.

Willow watched it thoughtfully.

Kennedy watched Willow just as thoughtfully.

* * *

Buffy sat impatiently waiting in the small room. Gunn sat at her side, but he wasn't in the mood for talking. She gazed at the little windows. They weren't barred. Shouldn't prison windows be barred, Maybe they didn't worry too much about that when you were three floors up. Which is how Faith had managed to get away the first time. Buffy smiled at the thought.

It felt like they had been sat there in silence for hours when the door finally opened and Faith was led in.

"Faith!" Buffy jumped from her seat and Gunn put a hand on her arm to stop her from rushing over. She took the hint and settled for bouncing excitedly on the balls of her feet.

Faith didn't look up from behind her curtain of hair until the guard had removed her cuffs and retreated back outside the door.

"Thirty minutes." He barked before closing it behind him.

"Thirty minutes is that all?" Buffy moaned, watching Faith as she hobbled to the table. 'Hobbling, why is she hobbling, and why hasn't she looked at me yet.'

"You should be grateful I could get us in at all on such short notice." Gunn growled. "And that you ain't speaking through a phone like regular visitors. Hey Faith."

Faith sat down carefully on the opposite side of the table. "Hey." She greeted them, looking up for the first time.

Gunn whistled through his teeth and Buffy gasped. She jumped back up from her seat too fast for Gunn to stop her and started around the edge of the table to the injured Slayer.

Faith put her hand up to stop her. "Sit back down B. You come around here and they'll strip search me and it ain't as sexy as it sounds."

Buffy blushed and moved quickly back to her seat. "They really do that?"

"You bet and can you blame them?" Faith ran her hands down her body with a smirk, Buffy smirked back and then both Slayers winced as she aggravated her sore ribs.

"Faith what happened to you?" Buffy demanded.

"Pissed off the wrong people, you know me. Anyway it's cool, it looks worse than it is."

"But how could anyone…I mean why didn't you…You're a Slayer." Buffy whispered, as if Faith had forgotten.

"Thanks for the reminder B. Now I know that I'll just go back out there, break a few heads, get thrown in solitary and lose my appeal. Would that be your advice G?" She asked Gunn sarcastically.

Gunn just rolled his eyes.

Buffy looked down at her hands. "I hadn't thought of that." She admitted.

"Yeah anyway, it doesn't matter. With any luck I'll be outta here soon and that will piss them off way more than me handing out a beating. I've just gotta keep it in perspective."

Buffy looked more carefully at Faith's face, the bright purple bruises had a back ground of yellowy-green ones. This wasn't the first time she'd been attacked.

"Can't you tell someone?" She asked, desperate to be able to help her lover.

"Not the way it works."

"So you're just gonna keep taking it?"

"Like I said. With any luck it won't be for much longer and besides I'll be fine tomorrow."

Buffy looked away so Faith wouldn't see the tears in her eyes. All day she'd been planning the lecture she wanted to give the brunette Slayer, but now seeing her like this, no just seeing her at all, she just wanted to hug her.

Faith's voice made her turn back to the milk chocolate eyes she loved.

"So… you mad at me?"

"Hell yeah!"

"Oh."

"I think I have every right to be mad, don't you?" 'So that's where the lecture went.' Thought Buffy.

"Oh yeah, why's that?" 'Here she goes.' Thought Faith.

"'Cause you're an idiot."

"So I've been told." Faith looked away and slumped further in her chair, ignoring the pain.

"Well you are." Buffy assured her.

Faith looked at her again. "I'm mad at you too!"

"Why?"

"Because I distinctly remember telling you not to come looking for me, and yet here you are."

Buffy looked at her incredulously. "Faith, I don't care if you're mad at me for caring about you. I'm gonna do it with or without your consent."

"You couldn't just care about me from Cleveland."

"It's been six weeks Faith. I've been going out of my mind. I thought it was something I'd done to push you away, but I couldn't work out what."

"I told you I had stuff to do, and I'm doing it."

"You also told me you loved me."

Faith glanced at Gunn, embarrassed. "I never said that."

"Well you certainly implied it. Was it all a lie, was it just sex. I mean you said you were horny after the fight, was that all it was. 'Cause if so, boy do I feel stupid now. I mean I should have seen the warning signs. Not like it's the first time someone's 'got some and got gone'. Not the second either, and I mean it's you…Queen of the damned motto and I still fell for it. You must think I'm sooo stupid…"

"Buffy!" Faith cut off her babble in mid sentence. "Buffy can we not do this now. It's not exactly the time and place for a heart to heart, y'know. Besides I'm sure Gunn don't want to hear all the ins and outs of our…" She made a complicated motion with her hands and Buffy blushed.

"I don't mind." Said Gunn with a grin and a shrug. Both Slayers shot him a glare and he went back to looking out of the windows.

"When then, Faith. When do you want to talk about we mean to each other, if anything and since when are you shy about sex. I think you're just trying to avoid the conversation completely."

"Its not that." Said Faith, exasperated.

"Then tell me now. Do you want to be with me or not. If it was just sex you can tell me. I'm a big girl."

"It wasn't just sex, but I don't know what it means."

"What does that mean?" Stormed Buffy.

"You won't get it."

The two Slayers locked eyes.

"Try me?"

"No."

The Slayers sat in silence, staring at each other. Gunn shifted uncomfortably and turned his gaze to another window.

Buffy pursed her lips and blew air up at her fringe – lifting it slightly, Faith watched it. Buffy relented with a sigh.

"Okay."

"Okay. So I'm forgiven?" Faith looked hopeful.

"Not by a long shot missy, but we've only got twenty minutes left and I don't want to waste them arguing. There's more pressing matters at hand." Buffy glanced at Gunn but he was studiously ignoring them both.

"Oh yeah, such as?"

No sound came out when Buffy tried to speak, she cleared her throat and tried again.

"Yeah, we have a new problem, uh a big, big bad." Buffy peeked up from the fasinating table top to guage Faith's reaction, but she was just sitting there waiting for details. "Uh really big…and bad. I, uh, can't handle it alone. I need help."

"It must be pretty bad to make you come out of retirement." Said Faith.

How did Faith know about that? She must have been asking questions; which had to be good, right?

"You've got the Scoobies. They're in Cleveland with you right?"

"Um, yeah, but this is way to dangerous to involve them. It needs a Slayer." Buffy insisted.

Faith suppressed a smile. "Really B, well you've got a few thousand out there. Take you're pick."

"No, no I don't want them. I mean, they aren't as experienced as you. Jeez most of them have never even seen a vampire, let alone staked one." She grumbled more to herself than the woman sat across from her. In a brighter tone she added. "Looks like theres only one person for this job." She winked at Faith.

Faith grinned easily back. "Well I'm flattered an' all but I'm a bit preoccupied with a life sentence at the moment B."

"But you could…" Buffy whispered nodding her head towards the window. "…You know."

Faith looked towards the unbarred windows and then back to Buffy. "You serious?" She felt a little worried.

"You have to. This is important. The fate of my world depends on it."

* * *

Alex finished speaking to the ambulance driver and walked around to the back, Sam was just being loaded in.

"Told you to wait for me Sam. Look what playing hero gets you."

Sam looked up at the deputy through the back doors of the ambulance. "If I hadn't gothere when I did…How's the kid?"

"He'll be fine. Lost a fair bit of blood, but the bite wasn't that deep, just large. He's already on his way to Cleveland General."

Sam nodded and laid his head back down, the shot they'd given him for the pain finally kicking in.

Xander came over to stand next to Alex. "Is he okay?"

Alex turned away from the doors when they were closed and surveyed the scene. "Yeah he'll be fine once they get that bolt out, funny thing though," Alex scratched his head through his mane of dark hair. "The paramedic said the bolt was silver, said it might cause an infection if Sam doesn't look after it.Weird isn't it?"

"Yeah." Xander chuckled nervously.

Alex went over to inspect Hank's body. "I've never seen the wolves so antsy before. I mean, they've come down to the farms before in the winter, but they've never been as bold as to come right up to the house. Must be the full moon." Alex laughed.

"Well that's when the werewolves like to play." Agreed Xander.

Alex looked at him, still with a broad smile on his face. "Werewolves? You city folk sure have funny ideas about life in the country. You'll be asking next if Count Dracula lives in Mage Manor."

Xander thought for a second. "Mage Manor, is that the place outside of town on the hill." On Alex's nod his face grew guarded. "He doesn't, does he? Of course he doesn't." He chuckled weakly.Spotting a way out running up, he called it over. "Giles, hey, this is Alex, he's the deputy sheriff barman in these parts."

"Oh hello." Giles offered his hand, automatically polite, but then hid it behind his back again because he was still holding his silver sword.

"Hi." Said Alex jovially. "Are you Xander's dad?"

"Good Lord no, the very idea."

"Thanks Giles." Said Xander.

"No I am…that is too say…" Giles noticed the wolf carcass for the first time. "…Too late." He went to study the body. "Oh dear."

Alex followed him, "Uh sir, I have to ask what you and you're friends are doing, trespassing on private farmland after dark, with swords."

"Uh, we are with Xander." Hedged Giles, obviously Xander knew this young man, so hopefully he'd be happy with that.

He wasn't. "Yeah, but Xander was with me. He wouldn't have been out here if I hadn't been, so why are you guys."

Giles thought quickly. "We, uh, we are members of an environmental group, sent here to study the local, indigenous species and we were out tonight tracking badgers…" He received a sharp poke in his back. "…Bear, we were tracking bear, when we came across the wolves." He removed his glasses and gave his boyish grin. "I must say, I never realised the local species were so virulent, it's been quite exciting."

Alex didn't look so thrilled. "Yeah so exciting two people have ended up in hospital."

Giles' face fell. "I'm sorry, I didn't realise. I fell behind from the group. Was it the wolves, is it serious?"

"One got bitten, pretty bad but he'll live. Might have a nasty scar." Alex told him.

Giles winced, he was going to have more than a scar, he was going to have a new persona three nights of the month. Another werewolf to look out for. Giles wiped his hanky across his damp forehead while Alex continued.

"The other injured party was my colleague."

"He didn't get bit too did he?" Asked Giles dreading the idea of a werewolf cop. That would just be the icing on the cake.

"No sir, he got shot by the young lady over there." Alex pointed to Dawn, she was standing sheepishly with Cici and Miranda but when she realised she'd been busted she slowly walked over.

"I'm so sorry Giles; it was like, a total accident. The we…wolf was on the cop and I shot it and then the other wolf came out of nowhere and suddenly the wolf wasn't on him anymore, but I'd already fired, I am so, so sorry. Please don't tell Buffy."

Giles groaned out loud, he'd been wrong - this was the icing on the cake.

Alex carried on "I'm afraid sir I'm gonna have to arrest her."

"What?"Cried Dawn. "I said I'm sorry, it was an accident."

"I'm sorry, I have no choice. You shot a police officer in the leg with a crossbow bolt, a silver tipped crossbow bolt, why are they silver anyway? Wouldn't they be too soft for hunting?"

Willow had wandered over to join the crowd. "They were like that when we brought them." She answered when no one else seemed ready to. "Weird huh?"

Alex broke into a charming smile and offered Willow his hand. "Yeah weird. I'm Alex."

Willow shook his hand. "Nice to meet you Alex, I'm Gay." She smiled, eyes bright and mischievous and confident,as her power took its time going back to sleep. The more she used, the more awake it seemed to get.

"That's a nice name." Began Alex.

Kennedy came over and put an arm around her waist. "It's not her name." She said, neutrally.

"Oh." Alex snatched his hand back quickly, completely embarrassed, then realised how rude that looked and stuck it out again to offer it to Kennedy. She shook it, smirking.

"Anyway, if the ladies have quite finished spraying around the testosterone, maybe we should sort this Jailbird Dawn thing out." Said Xander, trying to save his new friend from further embarrassment. "Is there no way we can deal with it, without a trip to the station. It's not like she meant to do it, Al."

"I get that Xand, and don't worry Dawn; I'm not going to put you behind bars for it. Not this time anyway.But you shot a cop; I can't just let you go home. You have to come down to the station and I'll ask you a few official questions and then you can sign some papers and go home to bed. It won't take no more than thirty minutes, but I can't let it go, my dad would kill me."

"Okay, well I'll go with you Dawnie, let's just think of it as life experience." Xander put his arm around the young girl ready to lead her to the police jeep.

Giles put his hand on the carpenter's shoulder. "No Xander, you've been drinking, it wouldn't be right."

"I'm not drunk Giles."

"I never said you were, but I still think its best if you stayed and helped the girls clean up and I'll go with Dawn to the station." Giles spoke calmly, but firmly, leaving Xander no room to argue. He stepped back, clearly miffed about it.

Giles lead Dawn to the car with Alex. The deputy stopped him before he could get in.

"Sir, it might be good idea to leave the sword with you're friends."

"Oh, oh yes, I suppose it would." Giles smiled bashfully and handed the long, silver sword to Cici, who was closest.

"The rest of you should get home now; leave the badgers and bears for another night." Alex advised the rest of them, and then he waved to Xander and drove away.

* * *

Buffy glanced at her watch, time was running out and they were still talking in circles. She sighed.

"Okay, you wanna do the right thing, stick it out and I'm proud of you for it, but you don't have to do it alone. I can stay."

"It's not a B and B, ...B. You can't just book a cell with an ensuite for a few weeks." Faith chuckled.

"I know that moron, I mean I can stay in L.A., and then I can visit you as much as they allow, and I'm sure Gunn can arrange more meetings like this." Buffy shot a glance at the lawyer but he appeared to be tuning them out, he didn't acknowledge her comment. "We can see each other all the time."

"You can't stay B. You're needed in Cleveland." Said Faith sensibly.

"No I'm not, I haven't even been actively slaying since…well for a while."

Faith smirked. "Uh huh, what about this new big bad that's about, won't you be needed for that." She couldn't believe Buffy had made up a monster, justto get her to escape again. It was kinda sweet really.

"Bugger the big bad." Snapped Buffy, she knew full well that Faith had cottoned on to her lie. "This is more important."

Faith's expression softened. She was touched, it was impossible not to be, but this was the worse thing that could have happened. She hadn't put herself through the last impossibly hard six weeks just to have Buffy follow her. She had to make the blonde Slayer see that there was nothing she could do to help Faith that she couldn't do better a thousand miles away.

"B, it's not that I don't appreciate the sentiment 'cause I do, but it's really not what I want. I'm stuck here cooling my jets and you're not, you don't have to be. You've got a whole new life and you should be living it. So go…live it."

Buffy leaned across the table and spoke earnestly. "I don't want to go home without you Faith. It's only a few weeks until you're appeal and then we can go home together."

"And what if I don't get out."

"Don't say that."

"I have to say it. I'm thinking positively as much as I can, but I have to be realistic too. If my appeal is unsuccessful I could be, no I will be, in here for years. Maybe another twenty, maybe more because I skipped out. I've accepted that, you have to too."

Buffy placed her small hand over Faith's. "I won't accept it until it happens and then, if it does we'll manage…"

Faith shook Buffy's hand off. "What do you mean: 'We'll manage?' How will we manage? Are you going to move here, uproot Dawn and bring her back to Los Angeles or leave her behind with you're friends – you're family. Or do you wanna commute back and forth; buy a season ticket with Intra-Air. Just so you can spend twenty minutes a week with a convicted murderer?" Faith ran out of steam and slumped back in her hard plastic chair.

Buffy let the tears spill from her eyes and said simply "Yes."

Faith shook her head sadly. "No, you can't."

Buffy grabbed Faith's hand again and pulled it across the table, holding it tight so she couldn't pull it away. "Yes I can Faith. If that's what I have to do to share a bit of your life then that's what I'll do. Dawn can either come with me or she can stay at the place in Boudenver, she's practically an adult now anyway. She'll be off to college next year and everyone else will probably be glad to see the back of me, I think I've been driving them all a little crazy since we moved in. I could get a place near here, or in L.A. I could work for Angel. If Harmony can find anyone to employ her, I'm damn sure I can, or there's always plenty of Doublemeat Palaces…" Buffy babbled on as she held Faith's hand, determined to convince her it could work.

Faith let her hand be held but she was shaking her head and looking to Gunn for help, he gave a barely perceptible shrug and carried on looking the other way.

"Buffy, no." She tried.

Buffy babbled on regardless. "…And it may not be another twenty years anyway, they might reduce your sentence because of all the help you gave in the earthquake." She shot Faith a wink, who rolled her eyes helplessly. Buffy turned to Gunn. "You did mention how she helped evacuate the town, didn't you." Buffy winked at Gunn too. "Surely that will help, you did you're civic duty they shouldn't keep you locked up, and even if they do it's only twenty years, we'll still only be in our forties, and life begins then right and we don't have that pesky death sentence hanging over us now with all the new, uh new…"

"Buffy – No!" Faith shouted over the top of the blonde's babble.

Buffy pouted. "What do you mean No?"

"I mean no, we're not doing any of that. If my appeal isn't successful then this ends here. I don't want you waiting for me until I get out, I don't want you visiting me. You've got your own life to lead and I don't want to feel guilty because you're wasting it on me. I'm not worth it."

"Yes you are Faith, don't ever think you're not and you can't stop me from visiting you and waiting for you…"

"I won't accept the visits, I don't have to see you if I don't want to. I nearly didn't bother today, but I figured what the hell."

"But Faith it will give you something to look forward too, if you know I'm going to visit every week. It'll make it more bearable."

Faith smirked. "I can see you haven't lost any of the shine on your halo of superiority."

"I didn't mean it like that. I don't think I can come in here and wave a magic wand and make everything better, but I want to try." Buffy looked at their joined hands, her index finger stroked lightly over Faith's palm.

Faith stiffened slightly before pulling her hand away again. "B, you don't get it. I don't deserve better than this, not unless the jury decides I do and you're not making it any better anyway. I get that you're trying to help but it's not, it's making it worse. So just go home and wait for the appeal. If it's successful I'll come and see you and we'll talk. Until then I just want to be left alone."

Buffy sighed shakily, they only had a couple of minutes left, there wasn't time for any more arguing. "Okay Faith, have it you're way. I'll give you some space until the appeal, I get that you need to keep you're mind focused on that. I'll see you at the court house, maybe I can get some of the gang to come, for moral support."

"No." Snapped Faith, louder than she'd meant to.

"Okay, okay, just me and Giles then."

"No B. Just Giles, no you, no Scooby gang, just Giles. I don't want anyone else there."

"What do you mean, of course I'm going to be at you're appeal, silly."

"No you're not B, 'cause I don't want you there and it's my thing. There's gonna be enough people there makin' me crazy. I don't need another."

Buffy's voice was quiet when she asked. "What about before, I won't come in the room, I can just help you prepare?"

Faith's voice was firm. "I've got Gunn for that."

"So there's nothing at all I can do?" Buffy's voice was a hoarse whisper.

In contrast Faith sounded quite up-beat. "Yeah sure there is. You can go home and start living that normal life you've been harping on about since forever and let me deal with things this end."

Buffy wondered why she had never started biting her nails before, the hobby was looking attractive all of a sudden, she studied them and decided they were too dirty to bite, plus they probably tasted of plane. She steadied herself to keep going.

"And after the appeal, if it's successful, will you come home. To Cleveland I mean."

Faith gave a calculatedly casual shrug. "For a bit. It's not like I'm gonna have a lot of options as an ex-con, but it's a big wide world out there, B, and Cleveland is only a small corner of it, and who wants to spend their life in a place called Boudenver anyway. I dunno, I might take the opportunity to have a normal life myself, do a bit of travelling, away from Hellmouths and supernatural shit. I don't think I know how to grow roots."

Buffy gave another deep sigh, it was surprising there was any oxygen left in the room the amount she had been exhaling and inhaling.

"Do I figure in these plans at all?" Buffy's eyes were shiny with tears but they hadn't started to fall, not yet.

Faith shrugged again and Buffy wanted to dislocate both her shoulders. "We'll see."

"Faith, are you deliberately trying to piss me off?"

"Not deliberately, no. It just happens naturally."

"You're being an asshole!"

"Look B, we'll talk if I get out, yeah, but I never promised you anything." Faith was refusing to make eye contact, if she saw Buffy start to cry she knew she would start bawling too and then they'd be in even deeper.

"No you didn't."

Buffy's chair scraped back as she stood up, the buzzer above the door went off at the same time and the guard opened it to collect Faith. Buffy stormed to the other door and waited for it to be opened from the outside. When it was she turned back to Faith, who was just being handcuffed. Faith had expected to see tears but Buffy's eyes were like dry ice, cold, dry and a little smokey. Faith felt a twinge of pain in her gut under her scar, but she knew it was psychological and didn't consciously acknowledge it.

"Good luck." Buffy said in as civil a voice she could muster right now.

Faith nodded. "Thanks for coming."

Buffy turned and walked out the door, throwing a "Whatever" over her shoulder in reply.

* * *

Dawn stood on the black spot the deputy had directed her to and sulked. This was so unfair. She'd probably have a criminal record now for life all because her sister was the Slayer.She wasn't even _the_ Slayer now just an '_a_' but still Dawn got dragged into these totally not her fault situations.

Dawn conveniently forgot that she had insisted on accompanying the others on patrol that evening and that her sister hadn't even been there. 'Things like this never happen to my friends.' She moaned silently. 'Unless they're hanging out with me of course'. On Alex's instruction she lifted the board with the numbers on higher and tried not to smile out of habit for the camera. The flash made her blink.

When she could see again with out black dots clouding her vision the burly deputy was standing next to her.

"Well Miss Summers I think that's enough. I don't see this going any further, just as long as you promise to keep away from lethal weapons for a while." He gave her a pat on the shoulder and went to the counter to collect the official looking papers that Giles was signing.

"Fat chance of that happening with my life." Dawn muttered to herself.

"Thank you Mr Giles. This will all stay on file for a while but I think it's safe to say it won't come back and haunt you're Grand-daughter." Alex told the Watcher, amiably.

"Grand-daughter! Do I look old enough to be a bloody Grandfather?" Giles snapped. Dawn covered her giggles with her hand.

Alex looked discomfited. "I'm sorry sir, of course you don't I just assumed; and you did accompany Miss Summers in the place of a parent so I …was obviously wrong. Sorry." He gave an embarrassed, hairy smile.

Giles was not in the mood to be mollified. "If you must know, I'm Dawn'srakish Uncle, inan unofficial capacity." He told the young police man huffily. "And now if you've finished with us, I believe we should be getting home." He placed a hand on Dawn's shoulder and she allowed herself to be steered towards the door.

Alex's deep voice stopped them before they made it out. "One more thing sir."

They turned around to face him to find him more serious looking than he had been since they'd left the farm.

"People around here pride themselves on their hospitality. Boudenver is at the centre of a tourist area and we try to make visitors feel welcome, but I have to warn you, that you and you're friends already seem to be rubbing people up the wrong way." Giles looked like he was about to make a retort so Alex hurried on. "Now don't take offence because I don't mean any. Xander seems like a great guy and I figure any friends of his can't bethat bad, so please just think of this as friendly advice from one neighbour to another. The folks who owned that camp before you were a bit …strange. They were up to all kinds of nonsense and upsetting folk and people didn't take too kindly to it. The folks that live in town have mostly been here their whole lives and so have their parents, and so the memories of the witchipoo crowd go back a long way and I wouldn't be surprised if they stretched aways into the future too. It's not your fault you've been saddled with their crack pot legacy, but if you want to fit in around here you might want to avoid little escapades like tonight's. Otherwise not only do you chance being eaten or arrested." He chuckled softly before continuing. "You also run the risk as being painted no better than the witch council."

"Watchers Council." Giles corrected automatically, biting his lip a second to late.

"Excuse me?" Alex asked.

"I said 'What Council?' Amended Giles with a smile. "It sounds most intriguing."

"Not really. Just a bunch of kooks. English like yourself, but I'm sure that's where the similarities end sir."

Giles nodded and turned to leave again.

"If you're really interested you could ask my dad about it. He's away at the moment at a sheriff's conference in Cleveland, but he had lots of dealings with them up there. Said they used to get up to some strange goings on."

'I bet they did.' Giles was thinking of the goings on he'd gotten up to whilst training to be a Watcher. "That sounds interesting; maybe I'll get a chance to speak to your father when he returns."

"Yeah, you do that, or Owen, the shop keeper. If you're interested in the history of your new place, then he knows everything about everything around here and he's usually happy to chat when the shops quiet."

"I'll remember that." Said Giles as he and Dawn walked out into the night.

Dawn looked around the empty street then back to her unofficial rakish uncle. "Uh Giles how are we gonna get back to the house without a car."

"Oh blast, I keep forgetting we're in the middle of nowhere. Call Willow on you're mobile phone will you."

"We could always go back inside and ask Alex for a lift home, I'm sure he'd do it, he seems nice."

"No!" Snapped Giles. Seeing Dawn's startled face he cleared his throat and tried again. "No Dawn, I've had quite enough of that bloody bobby for one night. We'll manage without the inquisitive arm of the law."

Dawn shrugged and hit her speed dial button for Willow's phone. "Oh and Giles, it's called a cell."

"Maybe in your foreign lingo" Said the Watcher irratably and Dawn giggled.

* * *

After Alex had left with Dawn and Giles, Xander and Willow took charge. Xander organised Cici and Miranda in dragging the dead werewolf away from the farm.It wouldn't do to have the local authorities inspecting it too closely and realising it wasn't you're average wolf. Together they dragged it a good distance into the trees on the other side of Old Town Road and covered it with stones.

* * *

Back at the farm Willow ripped the hem of her shirt and held the wadded material to Kennedy's cheek. She had four long scratches reaching almost to her chin, but the young Slayer had moved fast and they weren't too deep, and besides, Willow knew scratches did not a werewolf make and with Slayer healing they wouldn't even scar.

Kennedy kept quiet and let Willow fuss over her cheek. She knew her girlfriend had something on her mind and she kept flashing back to the first wolf attacking her and the second just staring before disappearing in the opposite direction. Kennedy didn't know if that was what Willow was thinking about but it was certainly something. Willow fussed with her hands while she fussed inside her mind, as she did now, first with Kennedy's cheek and then with the scattered weapons. The brunette knew it was pointless to ask her about it now though, unless she wanted to spend the next couple of hours in a cold field trying to pick the needle out of the babble-stack.

* * *

The group came together again at the edge of the McGee property and Cici led them to where she and Giles had hidden the first drugged and bound werewolf.

The well spoken auburn-haired girl carefully separated some branches, mindful in case they attacked.When they didn't, she pointed through them. "It's under here."

Where she pointed was a bundle of tangled netting and absolutely no werewolf. Cici gave a little gasp and looked around in alarm. "It was here I promise."

Xander picked up the netting and inspected it, feeling the rough rope mesh with his hands to make up for the poor light the moon allowed into the bushes. His fingers hit some frayed ends and he held them up for everyone to see.

"I guess you're wolf didn't feel the need for a long snooze, it caught its forty winks and let itself out." He handed the useless net to one of the younger Slayers and pushed his way out of the trees onto the road. "Ropes no good, obviously, and what would we have done if you'd got it to the house before it escaped we'd have another attack on base like yesterday. We need manacles -orchains like we used to have. We should get some wire nets for starters. Something the beasts that go bump can't chew through…easily anyway." He started trudging down Old Town Road towards town. "I'll look into it for you."

Kennedy and the others were back on the tarmac now and she called after his retreating figure. "Hey where are you going?"

"To the jeep, there's nothing more we can do here." He carried on walking.

"Aren't we going to look for the other two werewolves?" She asked.

"What's the point? They'll be long gone."

"So that's it. The werewolves run wild, nearly kill someone, and they just get away with it. What, we just accept that and go home for cocoa?" Kennedy asked incredulously. "Is that what a Slayer would do"?

Xander called back over his shoulder. "I'm not a Slayer."

Cici and Miranda, who had been surreptitiously following Xander down the hill to town, stopped and looked back at Kennedy when Xander said that, but she just threw her hands up in the air in defeat and they scurried after him once more.

Willow put a soothing hand on her girlfriends arm. "He's right sweetie, if they were still about they would have attacked by now, and it's not all bad – we got one."

"We did not get one. You're werewolf hero got one, we got zilch."

"My what?" Willow chuckled nervously.

"It was a complete disaster. There are still two wolf monsters running around loose, one kid seriously injured, Dawn shot a cop and got arrested and you nearly got mauled because I wasn't prepared with a weapon." Kennedy's lower lip was trembling.

"All the more reason to cut our losses and go home." Xander called from where he and the younger Slayers were waiting down the road. "Let's just say that evil incarnate won the battle and you're regrouping to win the war, or kick its ass, whatever."

Kennedy merely grunted in reply but she followed Xander with Willow at her side.

* * *

Once they were back in what passed for the commercial district of Boudenver, all two roads of it, Kennedy and the other Slayers went to get the car from the back of 'The Mouth' and Xander was about to retrieve the jeep from the alley beside Barnies.

"Do you think you should drive if you've been drinking?" Willow asked him out of nowhere.

He turned to face her. "Trust me Will, seeing you nearly get eaten by Whitefang's evil twin brother is enough to sober me up any day of the week." He grinned. "In fact it kinda sent me too far the other way and now I need a drink just to reach normal." He looked longingly up at the wooden sign above the bar. It would still be open for a few hours yet and his night _had_ been prematurely cut short.

He looked from the sign back to his best friend. Her eyes which had been black with power shortly before were now filled only with her familiar concern. How many times had he nearly lost that in the last few years? He shuddered to think how many and tonight another had been added to that number.

With all that they had already lost and with all the hell-raising adventures they still seemed to go through every day, how many more numbers did any of them have before their numbers were up. How much longer could he rely on that familiar, wide-eyed Willow-look to be there? He let out a big sigh and decided familiar was good right now. He opened the jeep door and climbed in. "Go jump in the car, I'll be right behind you." He promised her with a smile.

* * *

Marvin stopped cautiously when he reached the edge of the woods and sniffed the air. Hedidn't trust his senses and he stood there for a long time in the darkness. He couldn't think straight, his head was foggy from the drugs they'd shot him with and his human heart was overcome with grief and guilt over his brothers death.

He had led Hank to his death, however unwittingly.

When he was finally convinced he could smell nothing threatening he broke from the trees at a run and without slowing he leapt through the wedged open window. He sniffed around the rooms of his home; the smell of Hank was still fresh and strong. Whining morosely he curled up in front of the fire and with his nose tucked under his tail he waited for the dawn.

* * *

The plane banked to the left as it left L.A. behind and Buffy used one hand to cling to the arm rest, the other held the little bottle of bitter liquid to her lips. She swallowed the vodka miniture in one mouthful and her lip curled in distaste, or it could have been in response to the avalanche of despair crashing down inside her. She signaled the stewardess for another drink and wondered if there was enough in-flight booze on board to get a Slayer drunk.

Behind and beneath her, L.A. was shrinking from view, but Buffy didn't look out of the window like she had on the flight in, there was nothing left there to look at. She wiped an escaped tear from the corner of her eye and cursed herself for caring. She watched the head rest in front of her while she waited for her drink. Her face was blank and emotionless belying the kaleidoscope of emotions playing inside.

* * *

The full moon shone brightly through the bars of Faith's cell, the beams falling across her face and making the tears on her cheeks sparkle. She had no concept of the time. It had been time for dinner when her visit was over but she had declined the tasteless slop in favour of going straight to her cell and there she had remained ever since. No one came near her door, most inmates didn't anyway, but even a vicious alley cat like Lolitta knew when to leave the mouse alone. Not that Faith was usually much of a mouse, but she felt like one just then. She felt caught by the tail in a trap made of her own good intentions and all she could do was watch her cheese walk away from her.

"It's the right thing to do. I'm doing the right thing, damn it Buffy. It's the right thing, it's the right thing." She buried her face in her hands, muttering into the night.

* * *

The tattered clouds drifted away from the moon to reveal a monsterously deformed wolf alone on top of a hill. It sat back on it's haunches and howled desolately at the pale globe hanging low over the forest. To an ear trained in wolf phonetics it sounded a lot like "W-w-w-i-i-i-l-l-l-l-o-o-o-w-w-w-w-w.

* * *

To be continued in: "Day Terrors." 


End file.
